Baron Cohen out of Freddie Mercury biopic

LOS ANGELES, USA – British comic actor Sacha Baron Cohen has pulled out of a long-planned film about flamboyant Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, his spokesman said July 23.

“Sacha has pulled out,” the actor’s publicist Matthew Labov told AFP in an email, declining to give any other details.

Other sources cited Baron Cohen’s manager as saying that “creative differences” with producers over the movie’s tone had prompted him to withdraw from the project.

The as-yet untitled film is being made by GK Films, in partnership with Robert De Niro’s and Jane Rosenthal’s Tribeca Productions and Queen Films.

Baron Cohen – whose hit movie characters include the bungling, politically incorrect Kazakh reporter Borat and wannabe gangster Ali G – had been linked to the biopic project for some time.

Watch the ‘Borat’ trailer here:

Peter Morgan, who scripted the films “Frost/Nixon” and “The Queen,” has written the screenplay, covering Mercury’s early years leading up to Queen’s stellar performance at the 1985 Live Aid concert.

The Parsi-born Mercury, whose real name is Farrokh Bulsara, died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1991, at the age of 45.

Queen is one of the world’s leading rock bands. The other band members are guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor and bassist John Deacon.

Their hits include “Bohemian Rhapsody” (1975), “We Are the Champions” and “We Will Rock You” (1977), “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” (1979), “Another One Bites the Dust” (1980) and “These Are the Days of Our Lives” (1991).

BBC reports that Baron Cohen is working on a James Bond spoof for Paramount, about a secret agent on the run with his football hooligan brother.

He is also working on a film called “The Lesbian,” about a billionaire who offers a large sum of money to any man who can woo and marry his lesbian daughter.

Listen to Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ here:

– Rappler.com