Back in 2010 it came to light that the rock band queen was planning on doing
a biopic about their career. While Rami Malek would go on to play frontman Freddie Mercury,
it was originally envisioned that Sacha Baron Cohen would play Queen’s frontman. Years later
Cohen would reveal why he was no longer part of the film and why things fell apart & he even go
on to reveal that the original script seemed like a terrible idea. One member of Queen wouldn’t
mince words about his disdain for Cohen and we're going to talk about all of that in today's video.
In September of 2010 guitarist Brian May would let it slip that Queen was working
on a biopic that actor Sacha Baron Cohen had been pushing for. May would tell the
Hardtalk Show “We have Sacha Baron Cohen, which will probably be a shock to a lot of people,
but he's been talking with us for a long time," It was initially reported that shooting would begin
sometime in 2011, but by April of that year shooting hadn’t begun yet. Brian May gave an
update telling the Daily Record that they were still in discussions with Sacha baron cohen
and that the actor told him personally he was born to play Freddie.
However, May would reveal that the rest of the Queen organization was reluctant to do a film
fearing it could hurt the band’s legacy stating : "It is a project which is taking up a lot of time
even though it is in the preparatory stages. It is a bit early to say how we will feel about it.
"Obviously, we go into it with a great amount of enthusiasm but also
a certain amount of caution because Freddie's legacy is very precious
and we have a great responsibility not to mess it up. It is more about Freddie than
it is about us and that is deliberately so. "We have resisted making this film for a long
time and it is only now we feel we have the right people that we have given it the OK.
"Sacha does seem perfect. If it hadn't been for Sacha pushing and pushing, we wouldn't be
at this point. We didn't choose him. He chose us."He is passionate about playing Freddie.
For years, he's been saying he is going to do it" May would conclude.
Then a few years would go by and in July of 2013 it came out that Cohen and Queen had parted ways
on the project. It was reported at the time that creative differences led to the split
with Cohen wanting the biopic to be nitty gritty, while Queen wanted the movie to be more restrained
and sanitized. Brian May would claim that the two parties parted ways on good terms,
but in 2014 both Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor gave an update on the film.
May would tell Classic Rock magazine "[I]n the end we felt that his presence in the movie would be
very distracting," referring to the comedians over the antics with characters like borat and bruno
going on to say "[W]e thought there has to be no distraction in the Freddie movie. You have to
really suspend that disbelief – the man who plays Freddie, you have to really believe is Freddie.
And we didn’t that could really happen with Sacha." May would go on to say he was a fan
of Baron, Cohen, but Roger Taylor was less diplomatic saying We didn’t want it to be a joke.
We want people to be moved. In 2016 and gave his version of events and made a surprising revelation
of the original script and why he walked away. You were working on this biopic of freddie mercury
of queen. You worked on it for 6 years. Yeah. The whole thing fell apart the band Queen wanted to
clean it up and you wanted to get into the nitty gritty. Yes. What did the nitty gritty mean? You
wanted to get into his sex life. Yes, definietely. There were amazing stories about Freddie Mercury,
crazy crazy, the guy was wild. I mean, he was living an extreme lifestyle debauchery debauchery
i mean there are stories of you know i don't know what you call them little people, little people
yes you know with plates full of cocaine on their heads walking around parties. You know what a
scene, but you got to remember and i understand it they are a band they want to protect their legacy
as a band and they want it to be about queen & I fully undestand that. So why didn't you have that
discussion with them upfront. .My first meeting with them I should have never carried on because
a member of the band I won't say who said Brian May, I won't say who. But he said you know this
is such a great movie because it's got such an amazing thing happens in the middle of the movie.
I go what happens in the movie. He goes you know Freddie dies. In the middle of the movie. I
go alright, i go all right you mean it's a bit like pulp fiction, you know the end
is the middle and the middle is the end and i go that's really, that's a wild movie alright that's
interesting i never thought about that. he goes no, no normal movie. I go so wait a minute what
happens in the second half of the movie, he says well you know we see how the band carries on from
strength to strength. Ohhh. I said listen, not one person is going to see a movie where the lead
character dies from Aids and then they carry on. That would just be the craziest movie.
Guys, guys, we've gotta carry on. in 2018 the film would finally be released
and while promoting tit to the associated press Roger Taylor would slam cohen again saying “It
was never really on [with Cohen]. I don’t think he took it seriously enough — he didn’t take
Freddie seriously enough. I think it’s [been] a long road, but we’re at the end of it now.”
Taylor echoed those feelings again this year with Classic Rock Magazine where he
told the publication what have would happened if Baron Cohen played freddie saying “I think
he would have been utter shit, Sacha is pushy, if nothing else. He’s also six inches too tall.
But I watched his last five films and came to the conclusion he’s not a very good actor… I thought
he was an utterly brilliant subversive comedian, that’s what he’s great at. Anyway, I think Rami
did a brilliant job in an almost impossible role.” After Cohen’s departure,the film would be in limbo
for a few more years as writers and directors came and went and the script would have to be rewritten
before being finally released in late 2018. Bohemian Rhapsody would be nominated for
several academy awards including best picture and best actor, which rami malek would win. The film
itself would be a massive hit grossing nearly a billion dollars worldwide at the box office.
That does it for today's video guys thanks for watching. Be sure to hit the like button and
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