Queen fans can finally rejoice – after enduring filming delays which temporarily halted production last year, the hotly anticipated Bohemian Rhapsody film hits theaters nationwide today, Nov. 2. Rami Malek, who also plays the lead in USA Network's "Mr. Robot," takes center stage as Freddie Mercury in the first major silver screen biopic of the legendary glam-rock band and its late dazzling frontman.
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There really is no other quite group like Queen—the glitzy, genre-bending and -redefining U.K. rock band that reigned supreme across the globe in the '70s and '80s. While Mercury's life was tragically cut short at 45 due to complications from HIV/AIDS, his impact has far outlasted his time on earth, with his music continuing to inspire new generations of musicians and music-aficionados alike.
Malek had big, shiny shoes to fill in embodying the vibrant, mercurial Mercury on the silver screen and clearly wasn’t lying about doing his homework—he has already received praise from film critics and fans for his portrayal. In a recent video message to fans the actor shares why this movie is special to him, and hopefully to you as well.
"Die-hard Queen fans, I'm very excited for them to see this film, I'm become pretty much a die-hard Queen fan myself," Malek shares. "What's special about this film is that we get to see the coming of age of this band from all walks of life, come together and collaborate on the greatest songs we've ever heard. You get the see the making of those songs and you get to see the glory of them resurrected onstage."
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On Nov. 1 Malek sat down with Ellen DeGeneres on "The Ellen Show" to talk about Bohemian Rhapsody, sharing how he dove in headfirst before the film was even greenlit, watching all the Queen and Mercury footage he could find and taking singing and dancing lessons in preparation. He explains that while he had to maintain daily singing lessons to get his voice on point for the role, he soon switched from working with dance choreographers to a specialized movement coach to learn how to improvise onstage with fabulous moves like "bubble bath streaming down your back" and "serve me some spaghetti."
While the film's soundtrack features original remastered Queen studio recordings and live performance tracks, the music in the film features vocals from Malek combined with recordings of Mercury's and vocals from Mercury YouTube "impersonator" Marc Martel, who sounds almost eerily like Mercury himself. As Malek says on Ellen, Martel has "an incredible voice," continuing the combination of vocals for the film is "done fairly seamlessly, I feel."
In addition to the complimentary Bohemian Rhapsody Original Soundtrack released on Oct. 19 in anticipation of the film, the surviving members of Queen asked Australian popstar Troye Sivan to cover "Somebody To Love," which he released today and was "beyond honoured to have been asked to cover…a masterful song by the most legendary band."
Bohemian Rhapsody is now playing in theaters nationwide, you can visit the film's website for show times and more info.
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