We see a little silhoutte of a man…
A new image in Entertainment Weekly has revealed the first ever look at Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury, after he controversially replaced Sascha Baron Cohen in the role.
He stands proudly in an instantly recognisable pose, using a microphone stand as a fake guitar with a huge pout. Malek wears the iconic white vest and tight light blue jeans that Freddie rocked on stage in 1985 at Live Aid.
Last week, the young actor started ramping up the anticipation when he posted a message on Twitter. He said: “I just had my make up, hair and costume tests as Freddie Mercury and it was overwhelmingly cool and truly unforgettable. Pics coming soon.”
He followed this yesterday, on September 5, when he tweeted a teaser image of the band
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He wrote: “Happy Birthday Mr Mercury. Take a closer look.”
Upon closer inspection, Malek’s reflection can be seen hovering above Freddie Mercury in the photograph.
Now the first official image has been revealed, showing Malek looking uncannily like the Queen idol during the band’s iconic Live Aid appearance, a moment which relaunched the British rock stars to a whole new generation and reminded everbody else what they had been missing.
Entertainment Weekly tweeted the image with the tagline: “Rami Malek is Freddie Mercury in this ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ first look.”
Fan responses were overwhelmingly positive with one summing it up with: “Almost identical.”
Referencing Sacha Baron Cohen’s original casting in the role, another added: “Good. Glad that idiot who played as BORAT didn’t get the part.”
Joing Malek in the movie are Gwilym Lee as Brian May, Joe Mazzello as John Deacon and former EastEnders favourite Ben Hardy as Roger Taylor.
Production on the film is set to begin this autumn, according to Variety, with Bryan Singer directing from Justin Haythe’s script.
Bohemian Rhapsody is out in 2018.