Rami Malek blown away by Queen stars' support

6 September 2018

Rami Malek says getting the seal of approval of Brian May and Roger Taylor to play Freddie Mercury was "the greatest honour".

Rami Malek

The 37-year-old actor stars as Queen's late enigmatic frontman - who died from an AIDS-related illness in 1991, aged just 45 - in the forthcoming biopic 'Bohemian Rhapsody', and said getting the nod from the surviving members of the band on his portrayal of the 'We Will Rock You' singer is something he'll never forget.

The 'Mr. Robot' star also admitted that he believes his performance is worthy of an Oscar.

Appearing on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!', he said: "The greatest honour I think from playing someone like Freddie Mercury is getting the acceptance of the legendary bandmates, Brian May and Roger Taylor.

"I'm not gonna lie and say I wouldn't consider [an Oscar] a massive accomplishment."

Malek also revealed that he played a prank on his co-star Ben Hardy - who plays Roger Taylor - by getting him to do the iconic drum solo on 1973's 'Keeping Yourself Alive' without him knowing they were in the company of Taylor himself.

He recalled: "We had to do a scene where we played 'Keep Yourself Alive,' and halfway through 'Keep Yourself Alive' is one of the most incredible, hard to replicate solos that Roger Taylor does.

"I thought I'd work this in with the AD's and convince the young man playing Roger Taylor [Ben Hardy] that he's gonna have to do this crazy difficult drum solo... Finally, after being called out on the walkie talkie so often, he came on the set and looked so pale he was like a ghost."

Malek says the most challenging scene was done on the first day, re-enacting Queen's performance at Live Aid at Wembley in July 1985, when the band walked out in front of a 72,000-person crowd.

He said: "We shot the most iconic performance in rock history - Queen playing at Live Aid - on day one.

"Our first shot was the four of us coming out onto Wembley Stadium stage as the members of Queen."

Yesterday (05.09.18) would have been Mercury's 72nd birthday, and it was announced that audio from the Live Aid performance is being released for the first time for the soundtrack for the film on an album released on October 19, fans will get to hear tracks including 'Radio Gaga' and 'We Are The Champions'.