RAMI MALEK – AS FREDDIE MERCURY.

Has dear, queer Freddie Mercury been “straightwashed” in the new Queen biopic? Some fear so… and worse, reports Marc Andrews.

WHEN IT comes to the casting of the lead role of singer Freddie Mercury in the new Queen biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, one Queen song sums it up best: Another One Bites The Dust.

Rami Malek, best known for his Emmywinning role on the TV series Mr Robot was finally bestowed the coveted role. However, before him, both Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat and Bruno) and Ben Whishaw (Q in Skyfall and other Bond films and the voice of Paddington), had been cast as Freddie, but pulled out.

After exiting the project, Baron Cohen claimed the surviving members of Queen didn’t want to make a warts’n’all movie, and were too concerned with protecting the band’s legacy. Baron Cohen pointed out in a radio interview that, “there are amazing stories about Freddie Mercury. The guy was wild. There are stories of little people walking around parties with plates of cocaine on their heads!”

Brian May’s classy response? “Sacha Baron Cohen became an arse!”

Bohemian Rhapsody – named after Queen’s biggest hit – was in development for almost a decade before being greenlit. The production has been beset with difficulties. Much of that was to do with the Queen members insisting that the movie was neither a comedy nor did the Queen brand any harm.

As soon as Bohemian Rhapsody wrapped and the trailer hit cinemas, there were accusations that Freddie’s life had been seriously “heterosexualised” for the film, completely ignoring his sexuality, not to mention his death from AIDS in 1991.

American Gods producer Bryan Fuller vented on Twitter declaring he was “mildly annoyed that the Bohemian Rhapsody trailer features gay/bi superstar Freddie Mercury flirting and twirling with a woman but no indication of his love of men”.

Despite the controversy the trailer was well received, if mostly for the fact that Rami Malek seemed to have captured Freddie Mercury down to a tee – and by that we mean his buckteeth. Malek, a 37-year-old native Californian, enthusiastically calls playing the role “my Beyonce moment” adding that it was “a challenge… He’s one of the most iconic musicians, or people, in history. It felt inspiring, but I heard Freddie Mercury telling me, ‘Don’t fuck this up!’”