The first trailer for Rami Malek's Freddie Mercury biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, dropped on Tuesday

[octoberlib]

Last edited Tue May 15, 2018, 11:59 AM - Edit history (1)

I'll wait for the reviews on this before I decide if I'm going to see it. I hope it's an honest portrayal.

[Tikki]

1. When my grandson was little he watched a Queen video and asked if Freddie was a Super Hero?

Freddie was wearing a cape in the video. I told him "Yes, very much so" "He was the super-hero of music."

My grandson will be 16 years old soon. We will be going to that movie.

Tikki

[Maven]

2. Is this the "straight-washing" of Freddie Mercury?

Based on the trailer, it looks that way. I guess we'll find out.

[LonePirate]

4. Thank for sharing my concern! I am reserving judgment for now.

[Maven]

12. Same, but it doesn't look promising.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[octoberlib]

6. I have no idea. It's about his life so they better not straight wash it.

[Runningdawg]

8. That was my first thought too

[LonePirate]

3. I have some problems with that trailer even though the music is good.

If the film is solely about Queen - how the band came to be and its music - then great. That would be an entertaining film.

However, if the film is about Mercury and his life, then that trailer goes out of its way to avoid being about Mercury. I sure hope the film doesn’t shy away from Mercury’s sexuality and life in order to make the film palpable for straight audiences.

[Tikki]

5. In my scope, everyone knows about Freddie's sexuality. Why anyone would...

think it wouldn't be mentioned in the movie!!!

Freddie was a magical musical singer, songwriter, band member and performer who was
gay.

I think this movie is a celebration of every bit of it all.


Tikki

[octoberlib]

7. According to Brian May and Roger Taylor, it's about Freddie during the "fabulous Queen years"

It may very well be straight washed. So, I won't see it unless it's an honest portrayal.

But such have been some of the concerns expressed after a message appeared on Queen’s website announcing the movie, Bohemian Rhapsody: The Film. The message mentioned that charismatic and handsome Mr. Robot star Rami Malek would be playing Mercury, and that Singer would be recreating “the fabulous Queen years which brought us such unforgettable moments as Live Aid, which we can reveal will be faithfully recreated for a key sequence the film.”

The band’s Brian May and Roger Taylor are executive producers of the project, with pre-production already underway in the U.K., and shooting scheduled to begin in mid-September.

There was no mention in the post of the trajectory and harder truths of Mercury’s life: that of being a closeted pop star at a time of huge homophobia, who died of AIDS shrouded in self-chosen secrecy and seclusion. The nature of his illness, although the subject of much media speculation, was only confirmed the day before he died in a public statement.

What May and Taylor, who are executive-producing the film, will focus on, and in what depth, remains to be seen. They were, and are, part of Queen, and have the power to edit and shape the movie at their will. Mercury when he was alive was fanatical about his privacy; a biography or biopic necessarily, at least to some degree, invades privacy, and so a true estimation and portrayal of Mercury’s life may well not be found in Bohemian Rhapsody: The Film.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/keep-sex-aids-and-the-closet-in-freddie-mercurys-biopic

[Maven]

9. Thanks. This sort of telling:

"In an interview with Howard Stern in March 2016, [Sacha Baron] Cohen confirmed that while he had wanted a Mercury that portrayed the “nitty gritty” of Mercury’s life and character—his sexuality included—Queen did not want that."

[msongs]

10. sounds like an advert to sell the soundtrack album nt

[PassingFair]

11. Malek does not seem comfortable with the accent.

Hope the actual portrayal is more believable than the trailer...

[Solly Mack]

13. I miss Freddie.