It looks like the long-gestating Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody is back on track, with Deadline reporting that Mr. Robot star Rami Malek is set to play the Queen frontman in the film, and Bryan Singer (X-Men: Apocalypse) is in talks to direct.
20th Century Fox and New Regency are now steering the project, which had previously been set up at Sony, with Sacha Baron Cohen (Grimsby) attached to play Mercury and Peter Morgan (The Queen) writing. Ben Whishaw (Spectre) was also set to star in the lead role, with Dexter Fletcher (Eddie the Eagle) directing, but that incarnation also fell apart due to creative differences.
The most recent draft of Bohemian Rhapsody has been penned by Anthony McCarten (The Theory of Everything), while Graham King (The Departed) is producing and Queen band members Brian May and Roger Taylor also attached as music producers. The plan is to begin filming next year… assuming it doesn’t all fall apart again, of course.
Originally published November 5, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
