Sacha Baron Cohen: I quit Freddie Mercury biopic after dispute with Queen

Sacha Baron Cohen has revealed he walked away from a high-profile role as Freddie Mercury because the surviving members of Queen wanted a substantial part of the film to focus on them.

Speaking to the US radio host Howard Stern, Baron Cohen said he hoped to present a “warts ‘n’ all” view of the legendary singer’s hedonistic lifestyle, but Mercury’s former bandmates were more concerned with protecting their legacy.

The comedian and actor said: “A member of the band – I won’t say who – said: ‘You know, this is such a great movie because it’s got such an amazing thing that happens in the middle.’”

“And I go: ‘What happens in the middle of the movie?’ He goes: ‘You know, Freddie dies.’ ... I go: ‘What happens in the second half of the movie?’ He goes: ‘We see how the band carries on from strength to strength.’

“I said: ‘Listen, not one person is going to see a movie where the lead character dies from Aids and then you see how the band carries on.’“There are amazing stories about Freddie Mercury. The guy was wild. There are stories of little people walking around parties with plates of cocaine on their heads!”

But according to Baron Cohen, who is in the US to promote his new film, Grimsby, Queen’s surviving members did not want those stories told: “They wanted to protect their legacy as a band.”

Baron Cohen said the band’s guitarist, Brian May, was an “amazing musician” but “not a great movie producer”. He also revealed he introduced high-profile film-makers Tom Hooper and David Fincher as possible directors during his six years working on the project, but neither option worked out.

Baron Cohen left the project in July 2013 amid reports of creative differences with Queen. The band’s drummer, Roger Taylor, later said the Borat star was let go because Queen’s surviving members did not want the film to be “a joke”, while May said Baron Cohen was simply too recognisable to play Mercury.

Deadline reported in November that the biopic was being reconfigured with a new script from The Theory of Everything’s Anthony McCarten. Producers reportedly hope Ben Whishaw will take the role of Mercury.