Sacha Baron Cohen is known for his flashy persona and maybe that meant that he lost out on playing iconic musician Freddie Mercury, Queen frontman.
Original band member and drummer for Queen, Roger Taylor recently said that Cohen’s departure is for the best.
“We felt Sacha probably wasn’t right in the end,” said Taylor in a recent interview with MOJO . “We didn’t want it to be a joke. We want people to be moved.”
A clear reference to Cohen’s sometimes over-the-top behavior which draws criticism from many quarters.
The Borat star has been attached to the long-running project almost since the start due to the fact that his physical appearance resembles that of Mercury so closely.
But that wasn’t enough for Taylor who wants people to take something from the film, which portrays the early days of the band until their legendary performance in the Live Aid concert in 1985.
Sacha Baron Cohen wanted a tell-all R-rated sort of film, while surviving band members Taylor and Brian May, wanted a family movie to inspire audiences.
Roger Taylor has been frustrated with the time it is taking to develop the project.
“I thought the music business was slow, but this has been like swimming in treacle [British term for molasses],” he told MOJO .
Daniel Radcliffe recently denied rumors that he was attached to the project saying that he and Harry Potter co-star Emma Watson get attached to fictitious projects all the time.
Freddie Mercury
The bad part is that Cohen can actually act and he can sing too, as he proved with his performance in Les Mis. And there is also the fact that he had brought on board script writer Peter Morgan ( Frost/Nixon ) who said that Bacon’s departure might be the final nail in the coffin for the project.
Other outlets are reporting the film is still a go, but who could replace Sacha Baron Cohen in the Freddie Mercury biopic? Luke Evans? He can sing too.
