The planned Freddie Mercury biopic has been shelved, after the film’s star Sacha Baron Cohen pulled out due to alleged disagreements over its script.
Cohen, most famous for his comedy roles as Borat and Ali G, was set to portray the flamboyant Queen frontman before pulling out of the film in July. Now it has been confirmed that the project has officially been shelved, after its writer Peter Morgan said it’s “probably not going to happen” following Cohen’s departure.
Morgan, the screenwriter of Frost/Nixon, The Queen and this month’s Rush, was penning a script that would follow Mercury’s life from the formation of Queen in the early ’70s, through to their 1985 set at Live Aid.
Cohen’s exit was reportedly due to his vision for the film not falling in line with that of Queen’s, who had both script and director approval. It was said that Queen wanted the biopic to be relatively family-friendly with a bigger focus on Mercury’s life as an entertainer, while Cohen wanted it to explore the grittier aspects of the star’s personal life. I know which film I’d rather see, but unfortunately now it looks like we’re not going to get either of them.
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