Earlier this year, Rami Malek won the Best Actor Oscar for playing Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. Having shot to the top of the A-list, the 38-year-old quickly bagged a role as the latest James Bond villain in No Time To Die. Now in a new interview on playing Safin, Malek has revealed what he learnt from playing Freddie Mercury that he took into 007.
Appearing on GMB, Ross King asked Malek if he would have any Bond villain one-liners.
A bit like: “I’ve been expecting you Mr Bond.”
But interestingly the Oscar winner was not keen on having such a catchphrase in No Time To Die.
He said: “Avoid at all costs.”
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Malek continued: “It’s a very fine line because you want to make it a very memorable character.
“But at the same time, you don’t want it to be a caricature.
“Working on Bohemian I learnt that. I always thought let’s make [Freddie Mercury], memorable but don’t make him a cartoon.”
Asked about keeping No Time To Die spoilers private, Malek admitted that Queen stars Brian May and Roger Taylor have been trying to get some out of him.
The Oscar-winner added: “I’ve fallen in love with being in London from shooting Bohemian Rhapsody and rehearsing it over the course of two years.
“It’s something that I’m so privileged to be a part of.”
On No Time To Die itself, he said: “I think it’s nice to let everybody come in this one and know that, one, they’re going to see something that is thrilling, action-packed.
“But I think this one might be a bit more emotional.”
While the Bohemian Rhapsody star also revealed a little bit of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s injection of humour.
The 38-year-old said: “Phoebe just had this level of commitment. She understands how Bond films works.
“At one point we were talking about a scene and I said, ‘Well this is a very climactic moment, are you sure we should interject some humour here?’”
“[Phoebe said:] ‘Well he just can’t help himself can he?’ So she had a really, really good sense of who he was – Bond – but entering all this.”
No Time To Die is released in UK cinemas on April 2, 2020.