Just like the main man himself, much about Bohemian Rhapsody defies belief. The Freddie Mercury and Queen biopic has defied critics to rake in an incredible $670million and counting at the global box office. Taking on the role of the iconic singer, songwriter and showman would have seemed daunting for anyone, yet Malik has triumphed, dazzling not just the enraptured audiences, but the remaining members of the band themselves. The actor has revealed the extraordinary lengths he went to in order to bring to much-loved and utterly unique Freddie back to life.
The star began his preparations a year before filming started and consumed every piece of footage he could find.
He studied the way Freddie walked, talked, sang, played piano, danced ran across the stage. He even closely examined the star’s love-hate relationship with his teeth and how they affected the way he held himself.
Malek also worked with movement coach Polly Bennet to understand his subject.
The actor detailed some of the unbelievable and shamelessly OTT things they went through to prepare him for the role of a lifetime. One thing is sure, Freddie himself would have approved.
Malek said: “[Freddie] was very elegant in his footwork and he got a lot of that from Bob Fosse and Liza Minnelli, so we watched Cabaret quite a bit. At one point Polly [had] me do ‘Killer Queen’ as a Shakespearean soliloquy as performed by Marie Antoinette. Essentially, she was getting me to be as spontaneously Freddie as possible. To not mimic him in any way, or try to do an impersonation, so that I, in any moment, whether it be a straight scene or a concert, felt as though he was existing in my body, and it was all grounded in my physicality and my performance.”
Another trademark part of Freddie’s persona was his protruding teeth – and his conflicted relationship with them.
Malek said: “I wore them (the false teeth) every night, almost, for a year to get used to them. I felt incredibly insecure when I first put them in. I felt I needed to compensate in some way, and my posture elongated almost immediately, and I thought, ‘Wow, what gorgeous posture Freddie had. Was he doing the same thing?’ I never really had an answer for that.”
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY IS OUT NOW