Freddie Mercury: A Wild "God"

At the beginning of this decade, a biographical film focusing on the life of Freddie Mercury, singer and leader of the iconic Queen group began to appear.

Of course, the news caused a sensation and aroused great expectations, not only for the rich and iconic character, but also because the group never lost its validity after the terrible absence of his leader. Seeing in the cinemas how she was formed, imposed her music and achieved success, a band counting millions of fans around the world was more than an attractive proposition.

Quickly, the names of the people involved began to be known: the screenwriter was Peter Morgan, known for writing plays and historical films: "The Last King of Scotland "(2006)," The Queen "(2006)," Frost / Nixon – The Scandal Interview "(2008), or later the Netflix series" The Crown ".

The producers concerned are GK Films, Tribeca Productions (of Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal) and Queen Films Ltd. thus guaranteeing the rights of all Queen's hits The first time the band authorized the use of their songs in a film about the band. And the name that was originally installed to play in Mercury was that of Sacha Baron Cohen . Irreverent, controversial, transgressor the English actor was imposed with his personal style. The choice seemed appropriate and imagining it on paper did not disillusion people.

For years he was looking for a director – Stephen Frears looked strong at one point – until 2013, the worst news was discovered: Baron Cohen was out of the project. What happened? The gaze of the approach of the actor who announced: "There are beautiful stories about the life of Mercury".

This guy was a savage, he lived life to the extreme. There are stories that, in their evenings, there were small people with cocaine dishes on their heads. "Of course, his thoughts on what the biopic should deal with ran up against what the Queen's members wanted, who had the last word on the script." One member of the group, I will not say who he is, d I said that Freddie should die in the middle of the film . In the second half, we will see how the group will behave anyway, "said Baron Cohen .

" No one goes to see a movie in which the protagonist dies of AIDS in the middle, but we are says again what's going on with the rest of the group, "concluded the actor.In reality, Brian May and Roger Taylor, with whom he would have had problems, said:" It's very difficult to talk because we owe a lot to Sacha, he had a lot of enthusiasm for the project and pushed us to start.

But in the end, we felt that his presence in the film would be a big distraction. led to this conclusion, these are his last three films – "El Dictador", "Los Miserables" and "The Invención of Hugo Cabret " – in which he achieves remarkable performances, but they are interpretations. Very Sacha Baron Cohen, and we think that he should not there is no distraction in Freddie's movie. It must be believed that the man who plays Freddie is really Freddie. And we did not think it would happen to Sacha. This is not a criticism of his talent, it's just the feeling that it would not work. But we separated in very good conditions, "this is how the decibels were likened to Brian May's guitarist .

By the end of this year, he was badured that Ben Whishaw would be the protagonist and that ultimately the direction would fall on Dexter Fletcher (if the name sounds, it's because he's the director of "Rocketman", feature film about Elton's life John with Taron Egerton) In fact, it was said that Fletcher had met the group to capture the essence of how to tell the story, which would cover the band's early years until its presentation at the concert "Live Aid "from 1985. The production is about to start in the first months of 2014 and everything is on wheels … or not?

November 2016 broke everything with the confirmation – now yes – that Rami Malek was putting on Freddie's costume and that Br yan Singer was almost a number intended to direct the film

"It's not hard to let go: I do not want to let go, it's a person I've learned a lot with, a spirit that I want him to be with me too as long as possible, "he told us about the character Malek, at a press conference a few days earlier for a handful of national media. it was Los Andes; and continued, "The biggest hurdle I had to interpret was that everyone had their own idea of ​​Freddie, so I had to find a way to access his humanity, who he was, to be able to get him. identify. "

But let's continue with the story of these previous examples. The project already contained early versions of the scenario of Anthony McCarten, nominated for an Oscar these years by "The Theory of Everything". In the months that followed, there was not much more news if it was a first possible (December 25, 2018). In September 2017, the Internet exploded when the first image of Malek under the name of Freddie Mercury was known. The resemblance was incredible. The actor also revealed details in an interview in which he revealed that when the time came to sing, they would use their own voice, Mercury recordings and a similar sound to fill in the gaps.

Bryan Singer director of also gave details, claiming that the film would not be a "traditional biopic" and would focus on the band's music: "It will not only be the only thing I've ever seen. Dark Freddie's story, and having said that, he will also be honored.This is a party. "And the latest published data is that Joe Mazzello, Ben Hardy and Gwilym Lee personify the rest of Queen .

But like any good story worth it, I could not be so happy. Just two months after showing the images and learning more details – and harbading almost the entire planet with what was about to happen – Century Century suspended production of the film due to a problem complex health of Singer. his representative told the BBC that the reason was "a personal health issue related to Bryan and his family" . The truth is that the director did not appear after the suspension of Thanksgiving, leaving producers very worried, not knowing what to do and speculating on a possible replacement. It was not the first time the director left or disappeared from a shoot. He had done it in "Superman Returns" and "X-Men: Apocalypse".

Rumors that Singer clashed several times with Rami Malek on the set, and the actor – with the producers – was tired of the erratic behavior of the filmmaker. director. The truth is that Thomas Newton Sigel, director of photography, was responsible for filming in the absence of Singer who apparently waved the fact that he was suffering from "a post-traumatic stress disorder due to tensions on the set "

The production had tried to keep any conflict under four keys and, suddenly and untimely, two weeks after the end, they were launching Bryan Singer. But not only that: a few days after 20th Century Fox ended the Bad Hat Harry contract, the studio's producer with the studio. Immediately, Fox began looking for a new director to complete the filming, all post-productions and any additional recorded scenes. mine that I did with a lot of pbadion. Within three weeks of the end of filming, I asked Fox for some free time so that he could return to the United States and deal with urgent health issues related to the condition. one of my parents. It was a very exhausting experience, which had a serious impact on my own health. The study was not willing to meet my needs and was exempted from my services. It was not my decision.

Rumors that my unexpected departure from the film was triggered by a conflict with Rami Malek are not true. Even though we sometimes had creative differences on the set, Rami and I left these differences and continue to work together until shortly before Thanksgiving. "And, without adding much to add, Dexter Fletcher (who had been in the race before making the biopic) finished the feature film.

The promotion took place in the following months The release of the trailer left the fans – and those who are not so impatient – to wait for the film released today.This is for fun and fun. vibrate with the songs of one of the best groups in history.