Guess it’s certain: we won’t be seeing Sacha Baron Cohen (who is currently only a year younger than Freddy Mercury was when he died) playing the legendary lead singer of Queen.
He dropped out a couple of years ago allegedly due to disputes with the surviving members of the band (he mentioned at a Cinefamily event that he wanted to highlight the wild, crazy, sexual side of Mercury, which his bandmates were apparently none too keen on), then rejoined and left this past May. Now, it comes out that they have a new screenwriter, and still want Ben Whishaw to play the central rock star.
Whishaw, who’s nearly 10 years younger than Cohen, has been linked with the role as early as 2013, when Cohen first departed the project. He arguably looks as much like Mercury as Cohen, and he’s shown a remarkable range since his breakout in PERFUME in ’06. He’s given a whole new spin on Q, he’s even funnier in a totally subdued, deapan way in THE LOBSTER, and navigated his various parts in CLOUD ATLAS with ease. The question then becomes whether he can rock out with the unmatched verve and energy of the guy who sang “We Will Rock You” and “Another One Bites The Dust”. Of course, there’s no real lead-up to playing Freddy Mercury (save for maybe playing BORAT and BRUNO); the only way to see if he can handle it is to see him don the moustache and belt out the tunes, but presumably the producers have seen something or know something we don’t if they’re so set on scoring him in particular.
The latest writer is Anthony McCarten, who got an Oscar nom for penning THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING, working on a draft by Peter Morgan (THE QUEEN, RUSH). They’re leaning towards the rather obvious title of BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY. It really does seem like they’re going the Oscar-friendly route instead of the batshit crazy, sexually explicit take Cohen likely wanted, and though that kinda bums me out, it’s hard to argue after STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON became the surprise hit of the summer.
They’re looking for a director, but after the financial disappointment of STEVE JOBS, don’t be surprised if they try and save some bucks by going with a young buck instead of a proven, Oscar-caliber talent. We shall see.
