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And Finally Artist News Media
Queen’s Roger Taylor “wouldn’t want to be seen as cashing in” with movie sequel
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 8 July 2020
Queen’s Roger Taylor has said that there are no plans to make a sequel to the band’s film ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ because he “wouldn’t want to be seen as cashing in”.
This is Queen, by the way. A band who, I think most people, even their most avowed defenders, would probably agree, have a bit of a tendency to cash in.
I mean, you can buy a Roger Taylor branded Christmas bauble. They’re also the only band I can think of who have an official tribute act ready to replace them on the touring circuit when they eventually retire. And that’s before anyone brings up anything to do with the ‘We Will Rock You’ musical. But, sure, you wouldn’t want people to think you were in it for the money.
Actually, the full sentence Taylor gave to Rolling Stone was “I think I wouldn’t want to be seen as cashing in again”. Which does suggest that even he concedes they were, in fact, cashing in with the first film. Although Brian May once claimed not to have earned anything from it. Other reports differed, however. At the time, May was responding to the Sunday Times Rich List’s claim that the film had helped the surviving members of the band amass more wealth than the actual queen.
Anyway, Taylor didn’t actually rule out a sequel entirely, saying: “I have to say no. I really do think that we need to sit back for a year or two and look at things and see if that is a believable or credible thing to do. The movie was a great hit. We were delighted, obviously. But I think I wouldn’t want to be seen as cashing in again. I’d have to have a very, very good script and scenario to make that work. Right now, I can’t think of a way of doing a sequel”.
So that’s not ruling it out altogether. And if they did get themselves a “very, very good script”, or even a very good script, or even a good script, that would put a second film well on track to be better than the first.
May also recently ruled out (though without completely ruling out) a second film. Although his concern was more that a sequel might be a bit of a downer, because it would have to properly tackle Freddie Mercury’s sexuality and HIV diagnosis.
Another hindrance might be the length of time it could take to make another film. As producers, May and Taylor fell out with various directors and lead actors over the tone and direction of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, greatly delaying the project as it worked its way through the motions. Maybe it’s just not worth the effort.
