According to an interview with Queen drummer Roger Taylor, Ben Whishaw (Skyfall, Cloud Atlas) is the band’s first choice to play Freddie Mercury in their upcoming biopic Mercury. This could possibly bring an end to months worth of speculation after original actor Sacha Baron Cohen left the Freddie Mercury biopic back in July.
Cohen had been attached to Mercury as early as 2010 but dropped out citing creative differences between him and Queen’s surviving members (who are also producing the movie). Queen guitarist Brian May stated that one of the big “creative differences” was that the band felt “that his presence in the movie would be very distracting.” May pointed out that his performances in his last few movies “were very much Sacha Baron Cohen performances.”
As far as Cohen goes, I’m going to have to side with the band on this one. While he may have done a great job playing Freddie Mercury, I myself would’ve found it really hard to get past the fact that it would be the same guy that played Borat. As a matter of fact, that’s a recurring problem I’ve had a hard time getting past in virtually every movie he’s in, so for the sake of the Freddie Mercury biopic it was probably for the best.
As for Ben Whishaw, I honestly don’t have much idea of how good he would be playing the iconic singer. While he did a fine job as Q in Skyfall and in Cloud Atlas, but they were both supporting roles and neither one seem to be very demanding in comparison to playing Mercury.
Do you think Sacha Baron Cohen would’ve played a good Freddie Mercury? Do you think Ben Whishaw is a good choice? Give us your thoughts on the Freddie Mercury biopic in the comments section below.
Source: The Guardian
