With the release of the biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody , fans have gotten to see a lot of two of the surviving members of the band, Queen, with the exception of John Deacon, the original bassist for the band, played by actor Joseph Mazzello in the movie.
In a new interview, original Queen band members Roger Taylor and Brian May admitted that they have no contact with Deacon, and they aren’t even sure he’s seen the movie, Bohemian Rhapsody , says Express . Taylor said that it’s been more than a decade since he has spoken to John Deacon.
“I haven’t heard a squeak from John, not a single guttural grunt,” Taylor said.
Queen guitarist Brian May says that the band would love to have Deacon around, but the bassist isn’t interested in participating in anything involving the band.
“John doesn’t want to be (involved). He’s in his own space and we respect that. It’s a shame, because we would love to have him around but he doesn’t want to be in that arena anymore…he just doesn’t want to be walking those roads,” May explained.
John Deacon is rarely seen in public, and while Taylor says it’s possible that one of the bassist’s children has seen Bohemian Rhapsody , they have no reason to believe that Deacon has seen it himself. But both Taylor and May thought that Mazzello did a great job playing Deacon in the film, though Taylor thinks that the actor is a bit posher than their former bandmate.
? Queen John Deacon shock ‘We have NO contact, I doubt he’s even seen Bohemian Rhapsody’ – Express https://t.co/OC9i6WDa8z pic.twitter.com/WgdLUQHix3
— QUEEN NewsFlash (@wwry_jp) May 25, 2019
Taylor says Mazzello pegged Deacon’s mannerisms and way of carrying himself.
“Joe (Mazzello) who played John nailed his mannerisms but made him slightly too posh. Deacy was from Leicester and had a bit of a Northern accent. But all of them were amazing. They must have watched hours of footage of us all.”
All of Deacon’s friends believe that the death of Freddie Mercury hit him particularly hard, and was what caused him to quit the band in 1988. Taylor says that it took him a year after Mercury’s death to make his next move, but he thinks that Deacon decided he no longer wanted to be in the music industry.
While Taylor and May both embraced the cast of Bohemian Rhapsody and took a hands-on approach to the film, Deacon stayed away, though he was kept in the loop about the plans.
John Deacon continues to live quietly in Putney, London, in the house he bought with his first royalties from the band.
