'Bohemian Rhapsody' outtake shows Queen guitarist school the film's cast

When one’s tasked with portraying a famous musician in a movie, it’s not often you have that very same musician looking over your shoulder while filming. Nevertheless, it looks like the cast of the hit Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody were in “Good Company” for the re-creation of the fabled studio session that yielded the movie’s namesake 1975 song.

Because when Queen’s Brian May was hanging around on set for the “Bohemian Rhapsody” recording scene, actor Gwilym Lee—who plays the guitarist in the Golden Globe-nominated, record-breaking motion picture—got a masterclass in authentic classic-rock shredding from the man who performed the iconic guitar solo all those years ago.

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This clip is stolen from @bryanjaysinger, who was evidently filming it on his iPhone. When the BR team were shooting this scene, I happened to be around, so Gwil invited me to have a go ! How did I do, folks ? Well, obviously not quite as good as Gwil ! He’s a trained artist ! ? We had too much fun ! I’d like to see the rest of what happened, captured by the film cameras which were still rolling … some day. In case you’re wondering why this solo doesn’t sound like the ‘out-take’ solo in the film, I only had the idea to make that happen later, when we were polishing the soundtrack. In any case, we wouldn’t have had the facilities to do that on the day of the shoot. In the film, you hear a variant take on the Bo Rhap solo which just MIGHT have been the one previous to the final one which made it onto the record! Might ! That’s if it hadn’t been a genius first-take keeper. Ha ha ! I honestly don’t remember ! A million thanks to @mrgwilymlee Bri

A post shared by Brian Harold May (@brianmayforreal) on Jan 14, 2019 at 2:28pm PST

Shared on the longtime Queen member’s Instagram this week, May lets astute BoRhap viewers get a look at the heartwarming behind-the-scenes clip. Perhaps surprisingly, he says Lee instigated the IRL Queen guitarist’s on-camera licks.

“When the BR team were shooting this scene, I happened to be around, so Gwil invited me to have a go ! How did I do, folks ? Well, obviously not quite as good as Gwil ! He’s a trained artist ! ? We had too much fun ! I’d like to see the rest of what happened, captured by the film cameras which were still rolling … some day.”

In the pic’s caption, May pines to see the outtake footage of his impromptu run-through. But he may not get his wish to scope out what the film camera captured. Still, we’ll always have Lee’s faithful portrayal of him in the finished flick.

What do you think of this rockin’ behind-the-scenes jam session from Queen’s Brian May? Did you see Bohemian Rhapsody in theaters? Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Sound off with your take in the comments section below.

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