Audiences have been left stunned as the much-missed icon lives again on the big screen. Critics have attacked the alleged omittance of any harsher truths about Freddie Mercury’s life, but fans have flocked to see the film. Ultimately the only people who really know the truth are Freddie’s family and the band. Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor have paid tribute to the way their much-missed friend seems to live and breathe again, revealing they forgot they were watching a film. However, Malek has revealed the rather unexpected reaction from Freddie’s sister, Kashmira Cooke, to his transformation.
Malek has confirmed that getting to spend time with Kasmira was key to understanding Freddie and bringing his performance to life: “I thought, ‘I have one responsibility: to do this human being justice and to make him proud and to make Queen proud.’
“I got to spend a lot of time with Kash — I call her Kash, which is a phenomenal thing I never thought I’d be doing in my life — and just being able to talk to her and hold her hand and give her a hug and have tea with her is such a gift. And to have had this experience and to feel some kinship with Freddie Mercury and to hear stories about him through his sister, it means everything to me.”
However, the first time Kashmira saw Rami in costume did not go as expected.
Malek told Jimmy Kimmel: “She got to see me as young Freddie with long hair and the teeth, make-up, the whole 1970s, early glam-rock look.”
What happened next? Malek revealed: “She laughed. As you can imagine it was an incredibly bizarre, alien moment for her.”
The overwhelmed actor added that once the shock subsided, Kash also cried: “Later on, it was a very emotional moment. On a serious note, she wrote me the most moving email, it was very powerful. To get that vote of appreciation from the people who were closest to him was everything for me.”
That vote of appreciation has continued as the movie races past $640million at the global box office and Malek starts to pick up the first awards season nominations.
Many more are bound to follow, with the smart money on a Best Actor Oscar nomination and, quite possibly, win.
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY IS OUT NOW