Fight Club director David Fincher has revealed how โspectacularโ Sacha Baron Cohen was as Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in the since-abandoned version of Bohemian Rhapsody he was once set to helm before Bryan Singer stepped in (only to later be replaced by Stephen Frears).
Speaking on the latest episode of The Directorโs Cut podcast alongside The Social Network collaborator Aaron Sorkin โ who has worked with the man behind Borat in his Netflix historical drama, The Trial of the Chicago 7 โ hereโs what Fincher had to says:
โHeโs so deft and specificโฆ Heโs such an intellect about the things heโs doing. Heโs so thoughtful. Heโs so quiet and thoughtful and chooses his words so specifically.โ
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The conversation then turned to the physical resemblance between Sacha Baron Cohen and Freddie Mercury, with Fincher asking Sorkin whether heโd seen the test images firsthand. Sorkin admitted he hadnโt, which prompted Fincher to offer the following:
โDude, you have to seeโฆ these photos are spectacular.โ
In what weโre willing to call one of the greatest tragedies in modern cinema, Sacha Baron Cohen would depart from the project due to creative differences. The reason? According to Stephen Frears, in line with Baron Cohenโs unapologetic and no-holds-barred ethos, he wanted to produce an โoutrageousโ and โgritty R-rated tell-allโ film. Band members Brian May and Roger Taylor famously sounded their objections in a rather veiled manner.
โSacha wanted to make a very outrageous film, which I would imagine Freddie Mercury would have approved of,โ says Frears.
โOutrageous in terms of his homosexuality and outrageous in terms of endless naked scenes. Sacha loved all of that.โ
โYou could always tell there would be trouble with the rest of the band. Because [Sacha] was so outrageous and they werenโt. They were much more conventional.โ
โThere are amazing stories about Freddie Mercury,โ Baron Cohen himself explained back in 2018.
โThe guy was wild. There are stories of little people with plates of cocaine on their heads walking around a party. They wanted to protect their legacy as a band.โ
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Eventually, the production landed on Rami Malek for the role, fielding plenty of critical acclaim. In 2019, the Mr Robot actor swept up the Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Academy Awards for Best Actor across all three ceremonies.
Of course, Sacha Baron Cohen might not be going home empty-handed in the accolade department after this year given his nominations for portraying Abbie Hoffman in Sorkinโs The Trial of the Chicago 7 and a smattering for Amazon Prime Videoโs Borat 2 โ also known as Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Gift of Pornographic Monkey to Vice Premier Mikhael Pence to Make Benefit Recently Diminished Nation of Kazakhstan โ of which he starred in and wrote.
Listen to the original conversation between David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin below.
