Released in October 2018, Bohemian
Rhapsody has been proving a
controversial hit ever since.
The British/American venture was
initially announced back in 2010, with
Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen attached
to play Mercury. Unfortunately this
partnership was short lived with Baron
Cohen soon leaving due to creative
differences. It was speculated at the time
that this is due to disagreements with
the band members of Queen, who had
both script and director approval,
and in particular with Brian May,
whose opinion he disagreed with
regarding the direction of the film.
Baron Cohen later flamed the fires
of this apparent feud stating that
he considered Brian May to be an
‘amazing musician [but] not a great
movie producer.’
Although he declined to point
out any one figure as the root of
the difficulties, Baron Cohen did
elaborate that, ‘A member of the
band – I won’t say who – said,
“You know, this is such a great
movie because it’s got such an
amazing thing that happens in
the middle of the movie.” And I
go, “What happens in the middle of the
movie?” He goes, “You know, Freddie
dies.” ... I go, “What happens in the
second half of the movie?” He goes, “We
see how the band carries on from strength
to strength.” I said, “Listen, not one
person is going to a movie where the lead
character dies from AIDS and then you
carry on to see how the band carries on.”’
The acrimony did not end there, with
Queen hitting out at Baron Cohen,
stating that it was in fact their decision
to let the star go from the project. When
questioned about the departure Roger
Taylor remarked, ‘We felt Sacha probably
wasn’t right in the end. We didn’t want
it to be a joke. We want people to be
moved.’ Brian May also added that he had
found the comedy star to be ‘distracting’.
English actor Ben Wishaw was
brought in as a replacement lead in 2013;however there seemed to be a degree of
confusion surrounding this appointment.
Despite Brian May expressing his
enthusiasm for the casting dubbing
Wishaw ‘a real actor’, there was no official
contract signed and Wishaw himself was
quoted back in 2014 by Time Out saying,
‘I don’t know what’s happening, it seems
to be on a back burner.’It proved to be another two years
before Bohemian Rhapsody finally found
the star they were looking for in the form
of popular American actor Rami Malek.
Known for his breakthrough role on the
television series Mr. Robot, Malek proved
to be the perfect man to play Mercury,
bringing the star power such a large
production requires, and the acting chops
to portray the nuanced eccentricities of
the Queen front man.
Changes to the cast were by no means
the only problems faced during the
production of Bohemian Rhapsody,
with departures behind the scenes
also having a huge impact on the
picture. Director Brian Singer was
fired from the film in December
2017, after reports of clashes with
the cast and other crewmembers.
Director Dexter Fletcher had
been involved in the film’s early
production, and was brought in
to complete the title after Singer
became ‘unexpectedly unavailable’.
Singer had already overseen
the majority of the principal
photography for the picture,
and in Fletcher’s hands filming
finally wrapped up in January
2018 – an astonishing eight years since its
announcement.
The critical reception to Bohemian
Rhapsody has been mixed. There was high
praise for Malek’s performance in the role
of Freddie Mercury, and the huge musical
numbers were lauded for their impressive
effects, however many critics found
the plot to be lacking and disliked the“Like Queen, Bohemian
Rhapsody is three parts good
but not terribly exciting,
and one part absolute joyful,
fabulous entertainment that
makes you forget everything
else around it.”
Olly Richards – Empire