Malek and his
girlfriend Lucy
Boynton at
the Oscars.FILM
KING OF
QUEEN
Malek made a lot of noise
during awards season, but some
of his biggest fans were Mercury’s
former bandmates. “He’s
amazing. Thank God we found
him ... he’s got Freddie to a T,”
Brian told Associated Press
at the London premiere
of the film.as you when you were starting out?
Well I have a friend who came up to me the
other day and he is a Caucasian-American who
has married a Lebanese woman. And he saw his
wife – her name is Mona – get very emotional
during the Oscar’s speech, and he started to
think: “She is now pregnant and they are going
to have a child who’s going to identify growing
up with you and your story, and now I have to
look at the world in a different way, a way that
I hadn’t planned to.” And I think that just put
everything into perspective for me, when that
affects the people coming into this country or
who have been in this country, but the future.
And it just shows you the impact that a story
like this can have and I don’t ever want to abuse
it, but I am not afraid to share it.
Is it true Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman
director Dexter Fletcher wanted you to do a
cameo in Rocketman as Freddie Mercury?
Very true! I thought about it, and entertained
it, and if there was a way to do it, we were
going to try. But with the different studios,
I don’t think there’s a chance in hell that Fox
was going to let me go do that and it was a
shame, as Taron [Egerton, Rocketman lead],
and I are mates and we were really trying
to make it work.
Are you an Elton John fan?
Lucy and I got to go to an Elton John concert in
New York recently. I surprised her and shedidn’t know where she was going, and I took
her through the back door. This is the luxury
of what’s happened in the past year in my life,
so that I get to call up Elton’s people and say,
“Hey, could I get tickets to the show and
surprise my lady with them?” And sure enough,
I walked her right in and Elton blew us a kiss.
So, these are the perks of playing a rock star!
You surprised her with an Elton concert.
Does she surprise you?
She pulled off an amazing surprise one
weekend for my birthday. Normally I don’t like
to celebrate my birthday, but I could tell she
was very nervous, and she planned an evening
for the both of us and toldmetobefreethat
night and she took me upontoa rooftopand
my jaw dropped. I saw GwilymLeewhoplays
Brian May, and Joe MazzellowhoplaysJohn
Deacon, and Ben Hardy whoplaysRoger
Taylor, and Denis O’Sullivan,oneofour
producers, and I was awestruck.Sheplanned
an entire weekend and fleweveryonein,andI
couldn’t believe that I wasfortunateenoughto
have someone that
considerate in my life.
What’s the secret to
your relationship
with Lucy?
Communication – it’s
just all about great
communication. I think
with any relationship
you have certain things
that are necessary
and that you can’t do
without and we have
those things.
■ By Abi Moustafa
and Jenny Cooney
CarrilloMalek alongside
original Queen
band members
Brian May and
Roger Taylor.
Malek as Freddie
Mercury during
his iconic Live Aid
performance.Malek was offered
a cameo role in
Rocketman.GETTY IMAGES (4);20TH CENTURY FOXWho l 31