Sacha Baron Cohen to play Freddie Mercury in "The Queen" - General

[release]E-lo-ley-ley. You suspect that the decision to make a film about the lead-up to Queen's career-defining set at Live Aid in 1985 came down solely to Sacha Baron Cohen's more-than-passing similarity to Freddie Mercury. It's probably reason enough. Sure, Baron Cohen is from London and Jewish, but such is his racial elasticity that he's convinced everyone not in on the joke that he's everything from a mankini-flaunting Kazakh to a precious French racing driver to a black man from Staines. You figure that a rock'n'roll Parsi from Zanzibar won't be beyond him. The as-yet-untitled project is to be written by Peter Morgan, whose biographical work – from Frost/Nixon to The Damned United and The Deal – tends to focus on brief, but vital moments in his protagonists' lives. So what can we expect from this untitled new project? Less than a year before Mercury ayo-ed his way through the set that reasserted them as rock greats, Queen had been castigated by the British music press and the Musicians' Union, and been blacklisted by the UN for breaking the cultural boycott on apartheid South Africa in playing a run of dates at the Sun City complex in Bophuthatswana. (John Harris writes about the fallout from this here). It'd be pretty surprising if Morgan didn't focus on the band trying to square this particular circle with their triumphant set at Live Aid. Tie that to Mercury's own fascinating public and private life: his ambiguity about his sexuality, his secret battle against Aids, and the extent to which he embraced his ethnicity (or not), and Baron Cohen will have plenty to wrestle with in what will be one of his first major non-comic roles. All we can be really sure of is that a Peter Morgan Queen movie with him in ought to be very interesting. And that Michael Sheen will probably turn up somewhere – though Brian May could prove a stretch, even for him.[/release] [url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2010/sep/17/sacha-baron-cohen-freddie-mercury]Source[/url] This could be rather interesting, and I could totally see it working, what do you guys think? Anyways, thread music: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUBwjyhRweQ[/media] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irp8CNj9qBI[/media]

Well he already has a pretty similar facial structure, I think with a little makeup he could really pull it off.

[IMG]http://img.chan4chan.com/img/2009-06-26/freddie_borat.jpg[/IMG] I am okay with this.

Awesome

Very nice!

That's sweet! Can't wait to see if there will be gay sex scene

Sacha Baron Cohen FTW

I don't know what to say about this.

They just need to give him some prosthetic front teeth and he'll almost look just like him.

Queen is my favorite band and I'm a fair-weather fan of Cohen. I'm OK with this, also.

I can't think of anyone better to play Freddie. Can't wait for this movie.

Freddie Mercury is a fucking genius. I wish he didn't die.

Shit, this is awesome.

Good casting choice.

Nice. That show was amazing.

[QUOTE=The_J_Hat;24888307]Nice. That show was amazing.[/QUOTE] What show?

To trim a the pubes, to shave a the legs.

Either Sacha or Johnny Depp would have been great. Awesome choice!

How does he go at singing though?

I'd like to see how Sacha Baron Cohen handles a serious role. He's definately a great choice in terms of looks.

At least any bitching about the lack of a likeness will be unfounded, the guy could almost be his twin.

[QUOTE=Dan2593;24886500]Freddie Mercury is a fucking genius. I wish he didn't die.[/QUOTE] Too bad it was AIDS that killed him

You would like it better if it was cancer?

[QUOTE=tommo400;24900286]I'd like to see how Sacha Baron Cohen handles a serious role. He's definately a great choice in terms of looks.[/QUOTE] He is a great actor. I am sure he will do just fine.

This is a fantastic choice, they look similar, and Cohen is a good actor with a pretty good singing voice (see Sweeney Todd).

Well he doesn't even really have to sing. All the really matters is that he looks the part and makes a believable performance. He's already got one of them set. I for one am hopeful and confident that he'll do fine.

oh dear :ohdear:

-snip-

[QUOTE=darcy010;24890476]How does he go at singing though?[/QUOTE] Haven't you seen Sweeney Todd? He did great as Sweeney's old rival, and his singing was great!

[QUOTE=Dan2593;24886500]Freddie Mercury is a fucking genius. I wish he didn't die.[/QUOTE] Your avatar... wow he's even uglier in 3d.