With hindsight, it would be easy to think that the movie was always certain to be a huge success. It is now the biggest drama and biopic of all time and looks set for Oscars glory next weekend. Yet, it took over ten years to reach the big screen, lost its director during filming and critics sharpened their knives over accusations the film did not do Freddie’s ‘real’ and very complicated story proper justice. Malek is at the heart of the film and its phenomenal triumph, but even he has admitted there was one thing he did not even want to attempt.
Even the harshest critics of Bohemian Rhapsody have usually agreed that Ramek’s performance is extraordinary. Queen legends Brian May and Roger Taylor have confessed they sometimes forget they were watching an actor rather than their much-missed friend.
Yet, on the new home entertainment package bonus features Malek unexpectedly says: “I was never going to be Freddie Mercury, nor did I want be. I thought that was a losing cause.
“I’m going to have to sing. I’m going to have to do British dialect. I’m going to have to move all over the stage. But you don’t want to mimic Freddie. You want to understand why he did what he did.”
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY: RAMI MALEK REVEALS THE BIGGEST SHOCK HE DISCOVERED ABOUT FREDDIE MERCURY
Malek spoke to Freddie’s sister Kashmira and his bandmates, he studied archive footage and had piano and movement lessons – but he revealed the performance all started with the simplest and most obvious thing.
He said: “As close as you can get with the help of hair and make-up to bring you into capturing his essence was just what I needed.”
The bonus features show the entire process of turning the actor into the icon until even Lucy Boynton, who plays Freddie’s life-long love Mary Austin and is Malek’s real-life girlfriend, said: “It’s the most exciting thing you can see as an actor to see that person disappear and become someone else. It’s just completely magical and bizarre and unnerving.”
It is very clear how seriously Malek took this daunting role. He said: “Freddie Mercury is an icon an a hero to so many I don’t think I completely understood just how massive he is to so many people across the world. It’s an immense responsibility but one that I was very eager to take on.”
The footage from behind the scenes also shows just how close the cast and filmmakers became, and how much fun they had on set.
Malek has spoken of his understandable nerves when he had to wear some of Freddie’s more revealing lycra catsuits, but he added: “When you dress as flamboyantly as Freddie does it makes every day going into a costume fitting feel like it’s going to be a good time.”
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY IS OUT NOW ON DIGITAL AND DOWNLOAD, AND ON DVD AND BLU-RAY ON MARCH 3