Actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has withdrawn his services from a forthcoming biopic on Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, according to reports.
Cohen signed up for the lead role when plans for the film first began to be publicly discussed back in 2011, but has now apparently pulled out due to creative differences with Mercury’s surviving bandmates, who are said to want a more family-orientated outlook on the iconic singer’s life, while Cohen has been pressing for a no-holds-barred approach.
The film has previously been disclosed to have an ending centering on Queen’s appearance at the 1985 Live Aid concert at Wembley, which is widely seen as reigniting interest in the group at a time when their popularity was on the wane.
One of the film’s producers, Graham King, told Digital Spy in late 2011: “I can tell you the working title is Mercury. Whether that ends up being the title of the movie we’re not sure yet. He led such a big life and there’s just so much to tell. Then you’ve got all this fantastic music. You’ve got to fit that in. It’s not an easy one to put together but I’m pretty confident we’ll be shooting that next year.”