The first trailer for the upcoming movie Bohemian Rhapsody, a biopic based on the band Queen, and starring Rami Malek as the great Freddie Mercury, has just been released.
The full-length trailer features a mash-up of many of the classic Queen hits, including "Another One Bites the Dust," "Bohemian Rhapsody," and "We Will Rock You". The trailer, which shows approximately 90 seconds of footage, focuses on recreations of concerts, recording sessions and the band's lifestyle. It follows on from a short teaser, which was posted on Queen's official YouTube channel on Monday.
Described by producers as "a foot-stomping celebration of Queen, their music and their extraordinary lead singer Freddie Mercury", the film covers "the meteoric rise of the band through their iconic songs and revolutionary sound, their near-implosion as Mercury’s lifestyle spirals out of control, and their triumphant reunion on the eve of Live Aid".
Rami Malek, who won an Emmy for his portrayal of Elliot Alderson in the television series Mr. Robot, has been given the honour of playing the eccentric and much-venerated musician, who died in 1991 of AIDS-related complications. Speaking at CinemaCon in Las Vegas last month, he told the audience that he felt the weight of this responsibility: “When I got this role, I thought, 'Oh, my God, this could be a career-defining performance.' And then two minutes later I thought, 'This could be a career killer.'"
The other band members are played by Gwilym Lee as Brian May, Ben Hardy as Roger Taylor, with Joseph Mazzello as bassist John Deacon.
The film has been in development since at least 2010, written by New Zealand-born playwright Anthony McCarten. Original Queen band members Brian May and Roger Taylor have both acted as producers, alongside Jim Beach, their longtime manager, and Robert De Niro. May and Taylor both also served as the film's music producers.
However, the biopic has also run into a host of problems along the way. Initially Borat lead Sacha Baron Cohen was cast as Mercury, but Baron Cohen experienced what he called "creative differences" with the actual bandmates of Queen and left the project in 2013. Guitarist Brian May later publicly called the comedian an "arse". Later, its original director Bryan Singer was fired, and Eddie the Eagle director Dexter Fletcher was brought in to replace him.
Bohemian Rhapsody is due for release on 24 October in the UK, 1 November in Australia and 2 November in the US.