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Peter Morgan talks about Freddie Mercury film
The hot-shot screenwriter talks about working with surviving Queen members and Sacha Baron Cohen playing Mercury
The screenwriter Peter Morgan gave more details last night about his work on an upcoming film about Queen frontman Freddie Mercury – including how he's having to tread carefully with the band's three surviving members.‘That's where my head is now,’ Morgan told an audience at Bafta during a talk as part of the Bafta and BFI Screenwriters’ Lecture Series. ‘I’m meeting rock Gods, and I love it.’
Morgan says that it’s been tricky dealing with Queen’s surviving members, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon. ‘Queen are sensitive because it will show rancour and disagreements in the collaborative process. In a way, the film, for me, reflects my own experience of filmmaking as a collaborative process. Just as a film is never the result of one person, so the band doesn’t like the idea of Queen being “A Band by Freddie Mercury” – and they’re right. It won't just be about Freddie Mercury.’
Morgan also stressed that although Baron Cohen is played the lead, no one should expect an out-and-out comedy. ‘They’ve hired me, so they’re not expecting gags. This is a drama.’
Asked whether he had read Tony Blair’s autobiography to compare notes with his scripts for ‘The Queen’ and ‘The Deal’, the 47-year-old writer said he was too busy reading and thinking about Mercury.
‘I will read it at some point – but at the moment my head’s full of books about Farrokh Bulsara’ – Mercury’s real name.
Morgan said that at first he didn’t think the film was a good idea when it was suggested to him. Baron Cohen is 38, so he didn’t feel he could write about Mercury’s younger years, and Mercury died in 1991 at 45, which didn’t leave him many years to investigate.
‘I didn’t want to write about a man dying from Aids. Luckily, when I looked into Mercury’s life, I found a good story in that window.’ Morgan didn’t specify, but other reports have suggested that the film will focus on the run-up to Queen’s performance at Live Aid at Wembley Stadium in 1985.
Author: Dave Calhoun
User comments on this story
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- Dan said...
- Peter Morgan has quite a challenging task at hand, ( choose your target audience carefully, for this current generation have know real music insight ) to have chosen one of the most musically naturally gifted human to have grace us.... I only hope his motives are to illustrate to the world the true showman that he was, and not exploite or demoralise the memory of this brilliant yet simple man in Freddie Mercury.. Posted on Apr 24 2012 15:14
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- Lovelyj said...
- when does it come out ?? Posted on Mar 22 2012 05:39
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- Stace said...
- I cannot WAIT to watch this.. Posted on Feb 21 2012 21:05
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- lindsay molyneux said...
- i can not wait for this film to come out as i have been waiting four years up to now it is gonna be a massive hit , just hope it is done with the taste and compassion fred deserves xx Posted on Jan 24 2012 12:39
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- Marijke-Antoinette said...
- Sorry Grace, but it was only Peter and Jim who was with Freddie, when he past away, I know for sure because , I know Peter very well! Posted on Jan 17 2012 10:09
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- Grace said...
- Peter Freestone and Dave Clark were with Freddie at his passing and they are still alive. Also Freddie's ex-girlfriend, Mary Austin, was there at Garden Lodge also. Posted on Jan 16 2012 16:34
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- killerqueen2000 said...
- Dont forget it is a movy about Freddies life not Queen, they are a part of Freddies life , but he did have a very good private life also, Posted on Jan 10 2012 09:58
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- Steve W.M said...
- I really feel that if people take the time to read the many books written about Queen and Freddie Mercury and listen to the many albums they have made in thier long and on going careers, and in all the various guises they have produced over the years with other ventures Ie : Wreckage, Smile, The Cross, and other solo stuff they have produced, not to mention the many DVDs that are availiable , I think watching the film will seem insignificant as there is no way a film will be able to display every factor of the bands career, Freddie was Just in his own words, ( A Musical Prostitute) lol...and the "rest of his lifes just a show" let his memory live on through his music forget the film someone is set to make a lot of cash off the back of his untimely demise and I bet none of that cash will find it's way to the Freddie Mercury Aids Trust. Please qoute me if I'm wrong on that score . Posted on Jan 09 2012 17:06
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- Marie-Antoinette, said...
- Nobody exept Peter who was also living at Garden Lodge is alive, and Peter is now 56, not 60 Posted on Aug 22 2011 09:21
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- skinbones said...
- great idea, can't wait to see it, like to know who is playing the other band members, a great tribute to Freddie, well deserved. Posted on Aug 21 2011 20:31
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- Marie-Antoinette said...
- Didt somebody ask Peter Freestone about the last months in Freddie's live,because nobody is still around, only Peter, all the others are past away Posted on Apr 18 2011 17:09
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- Cathy said...
- I think this film is a brilliant idea, and I hope Morgan gets it right. The incredible story of Queen and their success deserves to be told, as does the story of Freddie and his professional and personal relationship with "the boys" Brian, Roger, and John. I think Cohen will do a great job. Can't wait for the finished product! Posted on Apr 18 2011 16:51
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- celeste said...
- Can not wait for this film. I am a big fan of Freddie and the other band members. Posted on Dec 22 2010 21:44
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- Bucky said...
- finally - Freddie is a legend and deserves a movie with leotards Posted on Sep 29 2010 02:06
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- owen said...
- are they going to show how they didn't really want to do live aid after sun city only to have Live Aid be the pinacle of their career? Posted on Sep 29 2010 01:54
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