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And Finally Artist News
Sacha Baron Cohen discusses why he dropped out of Freddie Mercury biopic project
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 10 March 2016
Sacha Baron Cohen has discussed his involvement in the much-postponed Freddie Mercury biopic, which he dropped out of in 2013.
At the time Queen drummer Roger Taylor said that they parted company with the Borat and Ali G star on the movie venture because: “We felt Sacha probably wasn’t right in the end. We didn’t want it to be a joke. We want people to be moved”
But in a new interview with Howard Stern, Cohen himself says the real issue was the band’s plans for the film, which would have focused as much on how they continued on after Mercury’s death as it did on the frontman’s life and legacy.
Says Cohen: “I said, ‘listen, not one person is going to a movie where the lead character dies from AIDS and then you carry on to see how the band carries on'”. But, he conceded, “they want to protect their legacy as Queen, and I fully understand that. If you’re in control of your rights and your life story, why wouldn’t you depict yourself as great as possible?”
But, he mused, “Brian May is a great musician, but he’s not a great movie producer”.
