The latest biopic trend in Hollywood has yet to cease, spanning the stories of iconic musicians from Janis Joplin to Jimi Hendrix. A Freddie Mercury focused movie has been floating around since 2010 when Sacha Baron Cohen was slated to tackle the role of the extravagant Queen frontman. He dropped out of the position in 2013 along with the original director, leaving the fate of the film in limbo. On Wednesday, GK films revealed that they found a new screenwriter to jumpstart the film once more, keeping an eye on Ben Whishaw to portray the iconic singer.
Anthony McCarten, responsible for Stephen Hawking film The Theory of Everything, has filled the position of script writing for the impending biopic ready to potentially work with Sony Pictures for production. The first draft of the Mercury biopic was penned by Frost/Nixon playwright Peter Morgan, Rolling Stone notes. The film is rumored to be called Boheman Rhapsody, notably named after their classic 1975 A Night at the Opera track.
Baron Cohen dropped the film due to "creative differences" with Queen's surviving members who will also be named as the film's producers. Spectre actor Ben Whishaw tops the list for prospective Mercury actors although a new director has yet to be tied down, Sterogum reports.
"What led us to that conclusion was the last three movies that he's made - The Dictator, Les Misérables and Hugo - in which he makes outstanding performances, but they're very much Sacha Baron Cohen performances," Queen's Brian May told Rolling Stone of Baron Cohen's decision to leave the film. "And we thought there has to be no distraction in the Freddie movie. You have to really suspend that disbelief - the man who plays Freddie, you have to really believe is Freddie. And we didn't think that could really happen with Sacha."
