Prior to his involvement in USA’s excellent Mr. Robot, Rami Malek was often seen in tertiary roles. From Night at the Museum to The Pacific to Short Term 12, the 36-year-old actor has no shortage of credits to his name for supporting characters, and even played a small, yet fairly crucial role in Supermassive’s video game sleeper hit, Until Dawn.
That all changes with the release of Bohemian Rhapsody, though, which will place Malek front and center as the great Freddie Mercury. And while a handful of film fans expressed some concern about his casting when it was first announced, those fears have quickly been silenced now following the unveiling of the actor as Queen’s former frontman in this exhilarating first trailer for the movie.
Whether it’s the signature white vest and blue jeans ensemble, or the way in which Malek channels Mercury’s flamboyant performances, the attention to detail here is uncanny, and Bohemian Rhapsody is now among our most-anticipated releases of 2018. Freddie Mercury was always known and loved for his wild stage persona, and that’s something the Mr. Robot star recreates almost perfectly here.
From what we understand, the biopic unfolds across a “15-year period, starting in 1970 when Mercury met his bandmates, up through their legendary Live Aid performance in 1985.” In order to ensure absolute authenticity, Queen band members Brian May and Roger Taylor have been brought on board as music producers, with Anthony McCarten (The Theory of Everything) on script duties.
And though Malek will no doubt steal all the headlines as Freddie – not unlike Mercury himself all those years ago – Bohemian Rhapsody also stars Gwilym Lee as Brian May, Joe Mazzello as John Deacon and Ben Hardy as Roger Taylor. Look for the pic to open Stateside on December 25th, 2018.