Skyfall actor Ben Whishaw has been confirmed to play Freddie Mercury in a forthcoming biopic of the Queen frontman, replacing Sacha Baron Cohen as the lead role.
Baron Cohen, who originally signed up to play the star almost three years ago, announced his departure from the project this summer. Speaking of the change in line-up, Queen guitarist Brian May told Rolling Stone, back in October, that “What led us to that conclusion was the last three movies that he’s made – The Dictator, Les Miserables and Hugo – in which he makes outstanding performances, but they’re very much Sacha Baron Cohen performances,…. and we thought there has to be no distraction in the Freddie movie. You have to really suspend that disbelief – the man who plays Freddie, you have to really believe is Freddie. And we didn’t that could really happen with Sacha.”
The movie, set to be directed by Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels star Dexter Fletcher, has a tentative 2015 release date, though that may alter should shooting speed up.
