It’s a kind of magic this film was made at all
PRODUCER OF BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
what we’ve struggled with for so long – putting all these ingredients into a 120-page script. Even up until the last second we were changing dialogue and changing scenes.
“You get one shot in a film at telling the story and it was never quite right for a long time. I would keep going off to do another movie, then coming back to the drawing board and figuring out how we can get this done.”
Growing up in London, King remembers seeing Queen on Top of the Pops and marvelling at Mercury, so he was thrilled to obtain the movie rights from Brian May, Roger Taylor and Queen manager Jim Beach. The movie also got the seal of approval from Queen guitarist John Deacon.
But he says: “They were very opinionated in the early days about the movie they wanted. I told May, ‘We’re making a film, not a documentary’.”
He finally won them over, but then “the whole Sacha Baron Cohen thing happened”. At the time, King was shooting Hugo with Cohen. He says: “Sacha clearly had a passion to play Freddie Mercury, but there was no script. Until I have a screenplay and until I have a director, I’m not going to ever hire a cast member. Sacha wanted me to sign his deal and I didn’t, and he got mad.”
Cohen then went to war with Brian May in the press.
King says: “For me, it was always about Brian May, who any time could say, ‘Let’s not bother making this film’. Queen didn’t need to make the film. They didn’t need the money.”
King spent hours and days with the surviving members of Queen learning about Freddie, all the time worried they might change their minds. He says: “I don’t think Brian May ever thought we were going to make the film.” Ben Whishaw’s name was mentioned as a possible Freddie, but then King got a call suggesting Rami Malek, who he flew to LA to meet.
He says: “There was a little bit of Freddie in him then, and he really wanted this gig. And I think we would have been killed if we had a white Freddie Mercury.” Freddie was born in Zanzibar and went to school in Mumbai, while 37-year-old Rami has an Egyptian and Greek background.
King says: “It wasn’t about the look, I wasn’t looking for an impersonator, there was just something about him.
“He put himself on an iphone, copying one of Freddie’s interviews and he sent that to me. And I was like, ‘Oh, my God, that’s Freddie Mercury’. I knew then that was it – done, done, done! This performance is one of the best I’ve ever seen. It’s unbelievable.”
The songs are performed by Freddie, Rami and a Freddie sound-alike named Marc Martel.
King says: “It’s hard to find someone who sings like Freddie Mercury and I’m not sure the movie would have happened if we didn’t have Marc.” With shooting well under way, the problems Movie’s fantasy Queen went on. The 1985 Live Aid gig at Wembley was a tough location shoot on a field in the north of England with 4,000 extras.
It was, says King, a “heavy load” on the shoulders of director Bryan Singer. And then allegations of sexual assault surfaced against him in Los Angeles.
Reports at the time said Singer was fired by 20th Century Fox because of the allegations, but King says he was taking “a break” from filming due to “personal issues, family issues”.
Dexter Fletcher took over as director for the last 16 days of filming, but Singer retains the credit.
King now has 20 projects in development but it is Bohemian Rhapsody that is giving him restless nights. He says: “Right now, my fear is making sure people enjoy the film I’ve spent nearly a decade trying to get made.” ■ Bohemian Rhapsody is out today.
It wasn’t about the look.. there was just something about him GRAHAM KING