Sacha Baron Cohen to Play Freddie Mercury in Queen Biopic
Well, the picture kind of says it all, doesn’t it? It’s been rumoured for years that Sacha Baron Cohen might actually play the late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury on screen, but it has always seemed like an obvious joke. The rumours may have started when he hosted the MTV Europe Awards as Borat a few years back and came out on stage in spandex, claiming to be Freddie Mercury. Now, however, this role is becoming a reality, with Sacha Baron Cohen officially signing on to star in an upcoming biopic planned to shoot sometime in 2011. The likeness is uncanny, but will anyone be able to take him seriously?
Deadline New York reports that the upcoming Freddie Mercury biopic is being written by Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon) and it will be “focused on the band’s formative years, leading up to Queen’s appearance at Live Aid in 1985.” Apparently the movie will not touch on his death due to AIDS a few years later. The surviving members of Queen have licensed their music for the film, and will be involved in the production.
It’s still unclear whether or not Sacha Baron Cohen will sing the music himself, but it seems like it might be a tall order, even for an accomplished singer. The bigger question right now is whether or not he will shoot this movie before he does his next original comedy, a movie in which he plays both a goat herder and a foreign dictator lost in the United States. Either way, I am certainly intrigued to see him in his first truly serious role, even though it will certainly require a performance that is larger than life. What do you think, can Sacha Baron Cohen pull off Freddie Mercury on the big screen?
Comments (7)
I’d definitely check it out. To early to tell. Have to see that first trailer, but I do think he is a quality actor.
Posted by Space Bandito on September 17th, 2010“The likeness is uncanny, but will anyone be able to take him seriously?”
-is this a recycled question from this same point in Tom Hanks and Jim Carrey’s careers? Cohen is one of the most talented performers out there, period.
Full on Ray style bio-pic well be awesome! The regular part of the film should be shot straight, then the Queen performances should be in 3fuckinD!!!
Posted by rus in chicago on September 17th, 2010Greg wears the same outfit to Ti-Cats games.
Posted by Mark in Ottawa on September 17th, 2010couldn’t have gone with a better choice imo. Cohen is a great actor and he can pull it off.
Posted by Napalm on September 17th, 2010Is the last sentence a joke? I think the film would be pretty good. Is the idea to get it out for 2011?
Posted by JSW on September 18th, 2010This is perhaps one of the most uncanny castings of a real-life person. I’d put Morgan Freeman’s Mandela or the (apparently now cancelled) Liam Neeson as Abe Lincoln.
Posted by Steve on September 18th, 2010Throw in some prosthetic teeth to give him that classic Freddie Mercury horseface look, and Cohen will probably nail it.
Posted by Maopheus on September 18th, 2010Leave a Reply