Sacha Baron Cohen to Play Freddie Mercury

Casting News, News, Projects

Deadline is reporting that Queen is the next band to get the bio-pic treatment and Sacha Baron Cohen has been cast to play Freddie Mercury!

Writer, Peter Morgan is currently working on the script for a 2011 production start. The as-of-yet titled film will focus on the band’s seminal years, leading up to Queen’s appearance at Live Aid in 1985, one of their greatest live performances.

Morgan is not new to films based on real people. Frost/Nixon, The Queen, The Last King of Scotland and The Damned United are only a few films on his resume. His most recent script, Hereafter, was directed by Clint Eastwood.

As of now it is known that the songs “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “We Will Rock You,” “We Are the Champions,” “Another One Bites The Dust” and “You’re My Best Friend” will appear in the film. It is not yet known if Cohen will sing the songs. While it’s true, trying to reproduce Mercury’s amazing range will be no easy feat, Cohen proved in Sweeney Todd that can indeed sing.

I rarely get excited about music bio-pics these days as they usually end up very watered down, however the idea of Cohen as Mercury kind of excites me and makes me think this film could have promise.

Are you happy with this casting choice? Do you think Cohen should sing the songs himself? Who should play the rest of the band? Sound off!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTzZdIfBxrY

Mike Noyes received his Masters Degree in Film from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco. A few of his short films can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/user/mikebnoyes. He recently published his first novel which you can buy here: https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Days-Years-Mike-Noyes-ebook/dp/B07D48NT6B/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528774538&sr=8-1&keywords=seven+days+seven+years