Culture

Bohemian Rhapsody: Rami Malek looks so eerily like Freddie Mercury in new Queen biopic pictures

Apr 27 2018
Written by Amy West

We see a little silhouetto of a man, scaramouche scaramouche.

We WILL do the fandango, as 20th Century Fox has finally released more long-awaited images of Rami Malek as late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in its upcoming biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.

In one image, Malek’s Mercury is sporting a tight, red t-shirt, a leather jacket and Aviator-style sunglasses while Brian May (played by Gwilym Lee) can be seen walking behind him.

In the other still, Mercury is on stage with bandmates May and John Deacon (Joseph Mazzello) and drummer Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy).

Judging by the historically-accurate outfits the foursome are wearing, it’s clear said scene is depicting the rock group’s real-life Live Aid performance at London’s Wembley Stadium in 1985.

Hardy, Mazzello, Lee and Malek are also set to star opposite Lucy Boynton (Murder on the Orient Express), Tom Hollander (The Night Manager), Aiden Gillen (Game of Thrones) and Mike Myers. Dexter Fletcher directs.

20th Century Fox

Written by Justin Haythe and Anthony McCarten, Bohemian Rhapsody will chronicle Queen’s rise to fame, the creation of their iconic discography and how Mercury’s lifestyle spiralled out of control and almost threatened their careers.

It has been said that it won’t shy away from shining a light on Mercury’s struggle with HIV and AIDS.

The studio unveiled a first look at the Mr. Robot star’s version of the legendary singer back in September 2017 but things have been relatively quiet from the production since.

Fox showed off the musical drama’s first trailer during their presentation at CinemaCon on Thursday, which could mean it will make its way online soon.

“When I got this role, I thought, ‘Oh, my God, this could be a career-defining performance,'” Malek said during the reveal. “And then two minutes later I thought, ‘This could be a career killer.'”

(Christopher Polk/Getty)

Bohemian Rhapsody has been a long time coming. Just short of a decade in fact, according to producer May. But now it’s finally coming to fruition, he’s confident that they’ve done his former bandmate justice in their portrayal.

“I can’t say too much about it,” May told TeamRock. “Eight years we’ve been working on getting it off the ground. Roger and I – to some extent against our will – have hung in there for all this time. But finally we’ve arrived at a place where we have the right director and the right script and we feel good about it.

“We’re very conscious that we get one shot, and if we don’t do it, someone else will do it badly. We will do it without avoiding anything – any aspect of Freddie. But we will try to keep it all in balance. I think if we get it right it will crystallise the way the world understands Freddie.

“We don’t want to present him as some kind of unreal person. He had, like the rest of us, his great bits and his not-so-great bits. And in a sense there’s a kind of superhero quality to him. I think if we get it right, people will appreciate all over again what a great bit of machinery Freddie was.”

Bohemian Rhapsody is due for release in November.

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