Sacha Baron Cohen was dropped from a Freddie Mercury biopic because the surviving members of Queen felt he would turn the movie into a comedy.
Sacha Baron Cohen who recentlystarred in The 'Les Miserables' quit the film about the late Queen frontman earlier this year following clashes with Mercury's surviving bandmates. Now however, drummer Roger Taylor now claims he and Brian May axed the actor from the role because they feared the 'Bruno' funnyman would turn the movie into a comedy with his performance.
Roger Taylor said: "We felt Sacha probably wasn't right. We didn't want it to be a joke. We want people to be moved."
Meanwhile, Baron Cohen's regular collaborator Dan Mazer admits the film was likely not a "right fit" for his pal.
He is reported in the The Sun newspaper as saying: "It probably wasn't a right fit. Sacha is very sure about how he wants to do things. If he felt he couldn't do it the right way then he didn't want to do it."
It would appear that despite the rows Baron Cohen left the project because he clashed with the surviving members of Queen about the creative direction of the film rather than how he should portray Mercury.
It has been rumoured the actor was in favour of a grittier, warts-and-all film about the legendary singer - who died after a long battle with AIDs in 1991 - while Mercury's bandmates wanted a more family friendly movie.
'Harry Potter' actor Daniel Radcliffe has been tipped to replace Baron Cohen in the film.