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.
From what I have read, I guess the film will be about the period from the success of The Game album to the disappointment in sales of the Hot Space album, the quick remedial effort of The Works album, setback again due to the controversy over the Break Free video and the Sun City gig, and the achievement of success again due to the Live Aid performance. It looks good.
cmsdrums · Member since
That would be a good period to cover.
The early days of bands are roughly always the same story - get together, struggle in poverty sharing a bedsit, record demos, no-one wants to sign them, they get their big break etc..etc...
The story of a huge band at their absolute peak and how they dealt with that behind the scenes would be very interesting - although commercially they were at the height of their powers, it is well documented that from The Game (And maybe even Jazz) they were not as close behind the scenes and relations were strained when recording. To see them hit that wall. and then be rejuvinated by Live Aid is a good story, and should catch the general public attention as EVERYONE is aware of Live Aid (Whereas focussing on, say, the Crazy Tour or The Magic Tour would be good for fans but have no mass appeal).
freddiefan91 · Member since
Its true about Queen being not just about Freddie, he even said himself in an interivew that he wasnt the leader of the group
Am feeling very uneasy about the outcome of the flm and whether they will portray the 4 members the right way or not and actually show the world how good Queens music really is
philip storey · Member since
I wonder what will be included on the Soundtrack to the film ? Probably another Greatest Hits rehash !!
Wijnand · Member since
Absolute Greatest Soundtrack
Aisha Sweetness · Member since
I wanna know who is gonna be cast as Bri, Rog and John that will be interesting!!!!!
I think this movie wil either be disgusting or euphoric, for a Queen fan.
john bodega · Member since
But it needs the "meeting Groucho" scene :(
jamster1111 · Member since
God damn it. It is a really stupid idea to end the film with live aid. How can you make a biography about a person (or group of people) without leading up to the end (in this case Freddie's death). Sometimes you need a movie to be sad for it to be good. I really wish the film included Mercury's final years and the making of the innuendo album
vadenuez · Member since
Interesting. Being one of the most privates band ever, I'd like to know if the three members really are willing to start telling it all in a hollywood movie. No hard feelings about Brian but the fact that he's so close to this project makes me believe this will be a very washed-up version of the real story.
It's good to read that John is somehow involved in all this. I wonder if they're all gathering together or the director is talking with each one individually.
Mr Mercury · Member since
^ I would imagine he would talk to each member of the band individually, that way he could get each person's take on what Freddie meant to them, how they reacted to him and vice versa
Shvili · Member since
I don't like the sound of this at all.
Picking Sasha Baron Cohen to portray Freddie is sacrifice. Sacrifice for what? For the infantile idea that his Borat character resembles Freddie due to his mustache. He is not an established actor in terms of playing serous roles. It will be very hard to take him seriously after ali g, borat, bruno, and I don't want Freddie to be an experiment for the sake of Cohen proving himself as an actor.
Idea of depicting only the jolly good old days (live Aid e.t.c) is also wrong. I know and respect the fact, that Freddie was very private with his illness, but I think it is reasonable to speak about it now. This issue is still important and world is still affected by it. I don't understand how can a relevant story of the man who had a larger than life character, and power to connect with millions of people, can be disregarded and not used to get the message across.
So.....my demands are: lol from 81 through 91 no Borat
