Was Sacha Baron Cohen supposed to be in 'Bohemian Rhapsody'?

Bohemian Rhapsody producer, Graham King, is sharing some insight about Sacha Baron Cohen’s involvement in the movie. It was previously reported that the actor had been considered to play Freddie Mercury.

However, that’s apparently not the case.

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The Queen biopic is an undeniable success. The film recently won two Golden Globes for “Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” and “Best Motion Picture – Drama.”

Plus, Bohemian Rhapsody had an incredible movie theater run, breaking box-office records worldwide—and it’s even coming back with a special sing-along version, which will hit 750 locations in the U.S. and Canada.

However, things weren’t always easy in the biopic’s camp. In 2017, FOX “temporarily halted” production of Bohemian Rhapsody due to the unavailability of original director and producer, Bryan Singer. Singer eventually left the project, with Dexter Fletcher tapping the project.

Producer Graham King recently discussed the Singer’s departure, saying it was “an unfortunate situation.”

“It’s an unfortunate situation, with like 16, 17 days to go and Bryan Singer just had some issues, his mother was very sick, and he’s the kind of guy that he needs to have 100% focus,” King explained at the Producers Guild Awards Nominees Breakfast (per NME).

According to King, Singer wanted to hiatus the film, but the studio preferred to go on.

“My job is to protect the film at any cost and that’s what I was there to do,” he added. “We were such a family by then, Rami [Malek] was driving that train every morning.”

Sacha Baron Cohen as Freddie Mercury?

Malek‘s performance as Queen frontman Freddie Mercury is now award-winning. However, early reports revealed he might not have been the first choice.

As NME notes, it was first believed that Sacha Baron Cohen had been tapped to play Mercury when the film was first announced in 2010, but left the project. According to reports, the actor and former director disagreed “on the type of movie they wanted to make.”

However, King is now sharing some more insight about the actor’s actual involvement in the movie.

According to the producer, Malek was the only name actually considered to play the part.

“There was a lot of talk about different people playing Freddie Mercury and no one was actually signed to play Freddie Mercury, no one was attached to play Freddie Mercury until Rami Malek,” he shares.

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