After much delays in production, the upcoming biopic of legendary singer Freddie Mercury is finally pushing through. The biopic is still in the works after getting a new writer to join the film.
As reported by Deadline, Anthony McCarten has joined the team and will be writing the script for the movie. McCarten recently gained an Oscar nomination for writing the script of "TheTheory of Everything," which stars Eddie Redmayne portraying Stephen Hawking on the big screen. Redmayne won an Academy Award for Best Actor, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a BAFTA Award for this role.
The production of the biopic came to a halt, having experienced a lot of problems with the script, actors, and the production as a whole. Sasha Baron Cohen, who is famously known for comedies like Borat and The Dictator, was initially cast to play Mercury in 2013, but had to drop the project because of artistic differences with the surviving members of Mercury's band, Queen.
As reported by Brian May, Queen's guitarist had expressed on his blog, "Contrary to rumour, the project has never been ‘adrift’ - and Sacha Baron Cohen didn’t walk out due to artistic differences (even though his management put that story out). It was our decision. We simply realised that we wouldn’t get the believable portrayal of Freddie Mercury we needed from Sacha, so we, as considerately and diplomatically as we could, moved on. Sacha is a great comedy character creator, but we need someone who will actually 'suspend disbelief’ so that we believe we are really watching Freddie on screen. More annoying to us was the rather mischievous impression given (and still believed by some) that we were shrinking from telling the truth, and ‘sanitising’ Freddie’s story in some way. In fact, the opposite is true. Anyone who knows us knows we have NEVER done anything by halves, and this will be no exception. The film will be devastatingly truthful, and will do Freddie justice as a human being, as well as channel his immense musical energy and the power of Queen in our Golden Days. We could never settle for anything less. It’s actually an incredible challenge to make this happen, and that’s why it’s not been quick. It will be worth the wait."
After Cohen was dropped, the production then considered Ben Whishaw. He initially took the role but delayed production on the biopic because of his role in the new Bond film "Spectre," as well as other initial projects like "Suffragette," "The Lobster," "The Danish Girl," and "In the Heart of the Sea."
According to The Hollywood News, the biopic was originally penned by Peter Morgan who was later on replaced by McCarten. The biopic is now using "Bohemian Rhapsody" as its working title, after Queen's iconic rock hit.
Mercury is known as the most flamboyant frontman of the rock band Queen. He wrote some of Queen's hits like Bohemian Rhapsody, We are the Champions, Somebody to Love, and others. Mercury died in 1991 due to Bronchial Pneumonia caused by AIDS.