Culture

Daniel Radcliffe considered to play Freddie Mercury in biopic

Sep 23 2013
Written by Joseph McCormick

Daniel Radcliffe is being considered for the role of Freddie Mercury in a biopic about the Queen star, reports suggest.

Plans for a biopic on the life of legendary Queen singer Freddie Mercury in July suffered a blow following the decision of Sacha Baron Cohen to pull out of the project over “creative differences”.

“Daniel has been told the part is his if he wants it,” an unnamed sourced told the Daily Star.

“Despite his youth, Daniel impressed movie bosses with his portrayal of gay poet Allen Ginsburg in this year’s movie ‘Kill Your Darlings,’” the source said.

“Plus, he’s closer in height to Freddie than Sacha, who’s much taller. Daniel can really sing, too.”

Cohen reportedly left the film because he clashed with surviving Queen band members, Brian May and Roger Taylor, over the script.

Reports at the time suggested that while Cohen, 41, wanted a more adult, and true-to-life depiction of Mercury’s life, other members of the project wanted it to be more mainstream-friendly.

The 24-year old Harry Potter star previously played poet Allen Ginsberg, in Kill Your Darlings. He spoke in an interview about filming gay sex scenes for the film, saying that when filming an intimate gay scene, the director gave him “step-by-step” instructions.

He previously spoke about filming gay sex scenes for the film, and said that it was “something new” but that he didn’t “worry about it”.

Radcliffe also said that the gay kiss with co-star Dane DeHaan was ”sincere, passionate and romantic”, and joked that he would like to win an MTV award for it.