There's so many Queen easter eggs and crucial details hidden in Bohemian Rhapsody that it's
guaranteed to blow your mind!
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, I'm Jan and in this video, I'm revealing all the crazy little
things even some hardcore Queen fans might have missed in the movie.
And if you'd like more videos like this on BoRap and other musicals, check out my full
playlist on the channel.
Freddie Mercury's love of opera and its influence on his work is well known.
So, it's fitting that the film includes several references to this.
When Freddie proposes to Mary, for example, in the background we hear the most famous
aria from Puccini's Madama Butterfly, a tragic tale of the doomed marriage between an American
officer and a young Japanese girl.
And the choice of this particular opera for the film foreshadows the likewise ill-fated
nature of Freddie and Mary's marriage.
Later, when Freddie rings Mary at night, we hear an aria from another Puccini opera in
the background.
The version we hear is sung by operatic soprano Montserrat Caballé, with whom Freddie famously
recorded his 1988 album Barcelona.
In a scene entirely made up for the movie, Freddie more or less begs his former bandmates
to forgive him for breaking up the band and asks them to play with him again at Live Aid.
'I need you & you need me.
Let's face it, we're not bad for four aging queens.'
What's especially interesting here is that Freddie's words 'we're not bad for four aging
queens' are taken straight from the Magic Tour in 1986 when, at Wembley Stadium, just
before performing Who Wants To Live Forever, Freddie addressed rumours that the band were
going to split up, telling the crowd that they'd stay together until they died.
'We're not bad for four aging queens, are we?'
And there's another intriguing detail some of you spotted in the scene where Freddie
pleads with Brian, Roger, and John to re-form the band.
After Freddie steps outside Miami's office while the others talk among themselves, he
ends up standing right in front of a gold record, giving the effect of a halo around
his head, which along with his conversation with Miami neatly foreshadows his death.
'They'll be alright, they just need a bit of time.'
'What if I don't have time?'
On top of the 'four aging queens' line, there's another hat-tip to the Magic Tour later during
Freddie's party when he descends the stairs wearing a crown and full-length cloak.
At the end of shows during the band's 1986 tour, Freddie used to wear a custom-made jewel-covered
crown and a long red cloak while God Save The Queen played.
If you thought there was something familiar about the embroidered top Freddie wears during
his first performance on stage with Brian and Roger, then you'd be right as we actually
saw that exact same tunic being worn by Freddie's mum at the start of the film.
Appropriately enough, just before Freddie dons his mum's top, we see him trying on women's
clothes in the store where Mary works and as she applies make-up to his face in the
dressing room, she tells him that she loves his style and thinks we should all take more
risks.
Just before the band meet their potential new manager John Reid for the first time,
Brian comments on Freddie's jacket, telling him it makes him look like "an angry lizard".
'I didn't know it was fancy dress Fred?'
'I've got to make an impression darling.'
'You look like an angry lizard.'
Which is interesting for two reasons.
First of all, bandmate John Deacon is played by actor Joe Mazzello, who's best known for
his role as Tim in the dinosaur-sized blockbuster Jurassic Park.
And curiously, the term dinosaur comes from Ancient Greek words meaning "terrible lizard".
But that's not the only fascinating detail about this particular moment in Bohemian Rhapsody,
as according to the costume designer, in real life that same white leather jacket worn by
Rami Malek in the film "was found in Jimi Hendrix's flat when he died", which makes
its appearance in the movie especially appropriate as Hendrix was one of Freddie's favourite
artists and an enormous influence on him, as you can see from this photo of a young
Freddie posing as Hendrix.
In fact, Hendrix also gets an amusingly ironic shout-out during Mike Myers' cameo as fictional
EMI executive Ray Foster who refuses to release 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.
Foster makes a comparison between Freddie and Jimi after the band lobs a brick through
Foster's window: 'You can take that out of our royalties!'
'You'll never have a gold disc, you medium talent.'
'And to think, I worked with Hendrix.'
Shout-out to Joey C for pointing out that Freddie's robe appears to be emblazoned with
a dragon on the front and back, which could be a sly wink to the Queen number Dragon Attack
as the chorus for that song includes the line "Gonna get me on the track / Got a dragon
on my back".
This shot of Freddie reflected in a pair of aviator sunglasses as he nervously waits for
his former bandmates to arrive at Miami's office for a possible reconciliation reminded
me of the shot of Freddie's sunglasses on the back cover of his 1985 solo album, Mr
Bad Guy, especially as the film veers from reality by portraying Freddie as a sort of
"bad guy" for having broken up the band to make a fortune with a solo deal.
As Freddie sits at a bus stop, scribbling on a loose piece of paper, we get a glimpse
of some lyrics from two different Queen tracks.
First of all is the song Seven Seas of Rhye, which featured on Queen's second album, Queen
II in 1974, after first appearing as an instrumental on their self-titled debut album in 1973.
Seven Seas of Rhye holds a special place in Queen history as it was the first song they
performed on the BBC's Top of the Pops as well as their first entry in the UK charts
and its success convinced Freddie to dedicate himself full-time to the band.
The second set of lyrics we see on Freddie's paper are for a song called Liar, which Freddie
wrote in 1970 and appeared on Queen's debut album.
But those song lyrics aren't the only cool little details in this scene.
There's also an extra easter egg which you might have missed.
When Liar was released as a single in 1974, its B-side was a track called "Doing Alright",
and you can hear that very song playing in the background as Freddie sits waiting for
his bus.
We hear "Doing Alright" again shortly later when it's performed on stage by Brian and
Roger's earlier band Smile.
The film tells us Freddie first met his future Queen bandmates that night after Smile's lead
singer Tim Staffell quit the group, though, as you might expect of a biopic, Bohemian
Rhapsody plays rather fast and loose with the facts – more on that in my other video.
What's interesting here, though, is that former Smile frontman Tim Staffell actually got back
together with Brian and Roger especially for the movie to re-record "Doing All Right",
the song he co-wrote with Brian; Freddie's version of which appeared on Queen's debut
album.
Thanks to the eagle-eyed people who told me they spotted the teasmade that featured in
Queen's famous music video for I Want To Break Free, which was a parody of the British soap
opera Coronation Street.
The video's very British bedside tea-making machine, which basically combines a kettle,
teapot, and alarm clock, appears in this scene where Freddie's lounging on his bed.
And there's another classic Queen reference in this scene in the form of the band's logo
which you can see in Freddie's sketchbook.
Originally, the film was also going to include a scene with Freddie explaining how he came
up with the famous emblem, which, in addition to the letter Q, a crown, and a Phoenix, is
made up of the band members' zodiac signs: 2 lions for Leos, Roger and John; a crab for
Brian's sign Cancer; and two fairies for Freddie's Virgo.
However, that scene ended up being deleted.
By the way, if you're interested, I've got a separate video on all the movie's deleted
scenes and songs.
Several people also spotted Freddie singing a couple of lines from the song Lazing On
A Sunday Afternoon from Queen's A Night At The Opera album.
As well as giving Fox's opening fanfare a distinctive Queen touch, Brian May also lent
two suitcases full of his original clothes from the era to the movie's costume designer
so several of the outfits you see being worn in the film are quite literally the genuine
article!
Cheers to everyone who pointed out that Brian May's daughter, Emily, made a cameo here,
and also that John Deacon's son, Luke, had a cameo in this scene too!
In a previous video, I pointed out Bono's cameo and Dire Straits music playing in the
Live Aid scenes.
Well, they're not the only artists who get a shout-out in the film.
David Bowie and Elton John, or rather two actors made up to look like them, get a couple
of sneaky cameos.
The first time we see them is at the start of the movie, though David's face is hidden
by a camera and Elton's is only seen as a reflection.
However, we see them both again, very briefly, at the end of the film, as Queen head towards
the Live Aid stage.
And right at the very start of the film, there's a few seconds of real Live Aid footage playing
in one of the TV trucks, where you can see Princess Diana, Prince Charles, Bob Geldof,
Elton John, George Michael, as well as Brian May and Roger Taylor!
Current-day Brian May also gets a cameo in the movie though he's in disguise and we don't
see his face in the final cut.
However, if you look carefully at the Top of the Pops sequence, this is Brian reading
a British tabloid.
And tons of you think Brian and Roger Taylor also appeared on the Live Aid set, sitting
on the scaffold watching the concert.
Now, it could be them, but if it is they're quite heavily disguised.
What do you think?
Let me know in the comments below.
There's even more cool easter eggs you may have missed in Bohemian Rhapsody including
secret references to Fat Bottomed Girls, Wayne's World, Marlene Dietrich, and an Adam Lambert
cameo.
Tap left to get all the details about those or tap right for my full BoRhap playlist.
Let me know about your favourite moments in the movie or any other little details you
spotted.
If you enjoyed this, a thumbs-up and a share are hugely appreciated.
Thanks for watching and see ya next time.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!