Film Journal October 2018

into a 120-page script. And even up until the last second we were
changing dialogue and changing scenes.
“For me, it was about getting the script right and it was the
development that took so many years. When you’re developing
someone’s life story into a two-hour film, you’ve got to pick the
moments. And with Freddie’s life it took so much work, and so
many writers came in to help to build this story and hopefully tell
the right story. We all know you get one shot in a film at telling
the story and it was never quite right for a long time. I would keep
going off to do another movie, then coming back to the drawing
board and figuring out how we can get this done.”
Growing up in London, King remembers seeing Queen
on the “Top of the Pops” television show and marveling at
the flamboyance of Freddie Mercury. “I was just mesmerized
watching him because of his looks and voice and the chemistry
he had with an audience,” he recalls. “I always said that if he
was a politician he could go in front of 400,000 people and just
command respect and show them and teach them where to go.
No one cared if he was straight or gay, which you couldn’t say
about many entertainers. So, for me, it was all about telling the
life story of someone that people don’t know a lot about.”
After much negotiating and difficulty, King managed to
obtain the movie rights from Brian May, Roger Taylor and
Queen’s longtime manager, Jim Beach. “But they were very
opinionated in the early days about the movie they wanted,” King
recalls. “I told May, ‘We’re making a film, not a documentary,
and if you don’t stick to every minute of history and every song it’s
okay, you can get away with it.’”
He finally won over May and Taylor, but then, he says, “the
whole Sacha Baron Cohen thing happened.”
He was shooting Hugo at the time, which co-starred Baron
Cohen. “Sacha clearly had a passion to play Freddie Mercury, but
there was no script and there was nothing done at the time,” King
says. “As a producer, until I have a screenplay and until I have a
director, I’m not going to ever hire a cast member. Sacha wanted
me to sign his deal and I didn’t, and he got mad and it all kind of
kicked off from there.
“There was a lot of talk from him about how in the script
Freddie dies halfway through and then the movie is about the
band. Well, that’s never, ever been the case. The movie is bookended
with the Live Aid concert and starts and ends with Live Aid.
“Then the whole Sacha and Brian May thing became a war in
the press, and for me it was always about Brian May, who anytime
could say, ‘Let’s not bother making this film.’ Queen didn’t need
to make the film. They didn’t need money, so the friction between
Sacha and Brian May became nerve-wracking to me, because any
minute he could have just pulled the plug.”
King spent hours and days sitting with the band and asking
questions about Freddie and their lives with him. But all the time
he was worried that they might change their minds. “Whether
I had the rights or not, if they weren’t going to support the film
and didn’t want to get involved, I would never make the film. So
that was always the big tension for me. Other than that, I think
they’ve been terrific.
“But there were times where they would be like, ‘Are we
actually going to make this movie?’ And I don’t think Brian May
ever thought we were going to make the film. And when I said I’d
got it green-lit at Fox, I think I called his bluff in a way.” He laughs.
“But it was a lot of meetings, a lot of getting together and
I realize that their life stories are going to be on 6,000 screens
around the world, so I understand how nervous they are.”
Ben Whishaw was mentioned as a possible Freddie Mercury,
but again, no script was ready. Then, King recalls, “I was in
London shooting a film and Denis O’Sullivan, who works with
me, called me and said, ‘I think I’ve found our Freddie Mercury.
I’d love you to fly back to L.A. to meet this guy Rami Malek and
spend some time with him.’
“So I did and I think he was really nervous, but there was a
little bit of Freddie in him then and he really wanted this gig.
And I think we would have been killed if we had a white Freddie
Mercury. Freddie was born in Zanzibar and went to school in
Mumbai, while Rami has an Egyptian and Greek background.
But it wasn’t about the look; I wasn’t looking for an impersonator,
there was just something about him.
“He put himself on an iPhone, copying one of Freddie’s
interviews and he sent that to me. And I was like, ‘Oh my
God, that’s Freddie Mercury.’ I knew right then that was it—
done, done, done! Sometimes it’s a gut feeling and I know it
sounds a bit corny, but I knew he was right for the part. I’ve
worked with Daniel Day Lewis and Leo and all these guys and
this performance I think is one of the best I’ve ever seen. It’s
unbelievable. Unbelievable.”
The songs in the movie are performed by Freddie, Rami and a
Freddie sound-alike named Marc Martel.
“Rami sings a little bit in the film, there’s a lot of Freddie
Mercury obviously, and a lot of Marc Martel. He sent a video to
Brian May and Roger Taylor and he sounds exactly like Freddie
Mercury. We knew that we had someone we could use for parts
that maybe Rami couldn’t do and obviously Freddie didn’t do.
So we were in Abbey Road recording studio for maybe two and a
half months with Marc and with Rami, recording bits and pieces
that we knew we needed. It’s hard to find someone who can sing
like Freddie Mercury and I’m not sure the movie would have
happened if we didn’t have Marc.”
But with a star, a singer, Queen’s cooperation and the script
problems solved and shooting well underway, the problems were
by no means over.
The famous Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium, which
bookends the film, was an extremely tough location shoot on a field
in the north of England with 4,000 extras. It was, says King, a “heavy
load” on the shoulders of Bryan Singer. And then allegations of
sexual assault surfaced against him in Los Angeles.
Reports at the time said he was fired from the movie by 20th
Century Fox because of the allegations, but Graham King explains it
slightly differently. “I like Bryan Singer,” he says. “I think he’s really,
really smart and he did an amazing job on this film. Unfortunately,
he’s got a lot going on in his world and in his head—a lot of personal
issues, family issues and a lot of things. It came to a point where
he just wanted to take a break from filming. He came to me in
November and wanted a hiatus until after Christmas so he could
deal with his problems and come back after the holidays.
“But when you have momentum going on a film, it’s hard to
do that and tell the actors to come out of their character and come
back later. So obviously I discussed it with the studio and they were
pretty adamant not to have a hiatus. And that’s kind of when it
happened.” Dexter Fletcher took over the directorial reins for the
last 16 days of filming, but Singer retains sole directing credit.
Graham King currently has 20 projects in development, but it
is Bohemian Rhapsody that is consuming his thoughts and giving
him restless nights.
“Right now, my fear is making sure that people enjoy the film
that I’ve spent nearly a decade trying to get made,” he says. “I was
nervous about showing this footage here today, because it’s the
first time and it’s kind of like letting your baby go.”
24 FILMJOURNAL.COM / OCTOBER 2018
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