Brian May on Queen biopic’s ‘bumpy road’

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BBC.CO.UK
29 March 2018 by Neil Smith

May said making Bohemian Rhapsody had been "an interesting experience"
May said making Bohemian Rhapsody had been “an interesting experience”

Queen guitarist Brian May has admitted the making of a biographical film about the band has been “a long and bumpy road” with “a good deal of wreckage”.

“I hope it’s okay and we don’t come across [badly],” he said of Bohemian Rhapsody, due out in November.

The film has been through a number of stars and directors since it was first confirmed in 2010. Last year X-Man Bryan Singer was fired from the film and replaced by British director Dexter Fletcher. Rami Malek plays Freddie Mercury in the 20th Century Fox release, a role previously linked to Sacha Baron Cohen and Ben Whishaw.

Rami Malek and Freddie Mercury
Mr Robot’s Rami Malek plays Mercury, pictured right in 1977 Rami Malek and Freddie Mercury ©GETTY IMAGES

May is played by Gwilym Lee, while Ben Hardy plays drummer Roger Taylor.

“Movies that mean anything very often go through a very difficult gestation period and this is probably no exception,” May told the BBC. “This is an interesting experience for Roger and me because we have so little power. To get the movie made you basically sign away all your control.”

It was announced this week Fox were bringing forward the release of the film, which was originally set to come out at Christmas.

Written by Justin Haythe and Anthony McCarten, the film tells the story of Queen from their formation in 1970 to their performance at Live Aid in 1985.

May, 70, was speaking at a gala performance of All or Nothing, a West End musical that tells the story of 1960s British band the Small Faces.

May said the show – which runs at the Ambassadors Theatre in London until 2 June – had brought back memories and made him “very tearful”.

“If you have any curiosity about what happened in those strange, formative times in British music, then this is a good thing to see,” he went on.