In a perfect universe, super flamboyant comedian and fairly gifted singer (as well as total lookalike) Sacha Baron Cohen would have played the Queen frontman in the upcoming Freddie Mercury movie that has been in the early stages of production for a while, but after he left the project over creative differences, producers may have finally found their leading man.
Ben Whishaw, who was first noticed by mainstream audiences in the 2006 haunting adaptation of Patrick Süskind's "Perfume," is apparently the big favorite to play the title role in the upcoming Freddie Mercury movie, as the film moves forward after months of production silence.
According to an exclusive story from Deadline, the Freddie Mercury movie is still very much moving forward and it has just hired an Oscar-nominated writer to pen a new screenplay for the film, which will not only deal with Mercury's life but with Queen's ascension to fame altogether.
Anthony McCarten, a recent Oscar nominee for the screenplay to "The Theory of Everything," has just been hired to rewrite the screenplay for the Freddie Mercury movie (which may be called "Bohemian Rhapsody") after Cohen left over creative differences with the surviving members of Queen - and now it seems the film will begin shooting next June.
As Games Radar reports, if the rumors of Whishaw's involvement in the Freddie Mercury are true, this would translate to a string of successes for the 35 year-old actor, as on this year alone he's involved in five films, including the latest addition to the James Bond franchise, "Spectre" (where he reprises his "Skyfall" role of Q), as well as the heavily Oscar-buzzed "Suffragette" and Ron Howard's "In the Heart of the Sea," where he will play Herman Melville alongside Chris Hemsworth.
According to Consequence of Sound, other stars reportedly attached to the Freddie Mercury movie are Johnny Flynn (who would be playing Roger Taylor) and Gemma Arterton (as Mercury's longtime partner Mary Austin).
