British director Stephen Frears has reportedly emerged as the frontrunner to helm an upcoming Freddie Mercury biopic, which means he might be going from The Queen to...Queen.
The long-in-the-works, still-untitled film will star Sacha Baron Cohen as the beloved singer, who died from complications of AIDS in 1991 at the age of 45. Graham King, who has a hand in seemingly every high-profile movie this century (including last year's Hugo, which starred Cohen), will produce, with biopic veterans Stephen J. Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson (Ali, Nixon) responsible for the most recent iteration of the screenplay.
Surviving members of the rock band, including Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon, are said to be cooperating with licensing Queen's hit songs (i.e., "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "We Will Rock You") for the film, which is expected to focus more on Mercury's rise and stardom than his dark days and eventual passing.
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[Variety]