Back when Sacha Baron Cohen was cast as the late, great singer of rock band Queen, I was quite happy. Cohen is a great actor when given a chance, and despite having never, ever heard him sing, he’ still the kind of guy that could win a Freddie Mercury lookalike contest easily.
But it looks like Cohen will not be rocking us, as the actor and the surviving members of Queen have very different vision in mind for the biopic.
Deadline has reported that Cohen has pulled out of the flick, after being attached to it for several years now. Originally, Cohen wanted to star in a film that would examine every aspect of the late singer, good and bad and would have most likely garnered a solid R-rating in the process.
The rest of Queen on the other hand, wanted the film to be a PG movie in tone. Unable to agree on which direction the film should take, has seen Cohen vanish from the project. Guitarist Brian May is still hopeful that the movie will break through though, or at least he was last year when he mentioned filming kicking off later next year. With the hammer having fallen on Cohen taking part though, the film project is looking to be once again be living forever in development hell.
Last Updated: July 23, 2013
TiMsTeR1033
July 23, 2013 at 13:57
They would prob just like lip sync the songs
RinceWind
July 23, 2013 at 14:10
That is a pity. have great respect for Sasha and by the sounds of it would rather have seen his vision realised.
Skyblue
July 23, 2013 at 16:19
Agreed to a degree, would really like to see a “warts and all” approach to the project but no-one will fund a film about a rock star who died over 20 years ago without reaching as large an audience as possible, even if the chance of getting teenagers to watch this is highly unlikely.
Skyblue
July 23, 2013 at 16:16
Just loved the lyrics worked in there Darryn, awesome!!
Sad to see Cohen leave the project but he was way too tall for the role even though he does look like Freddie. No-one can ever sing like he did though.