The rumored Freddie Mercury biopic that Sacha Baron Cohen will reportedly star in is still not happening.
News about the "Borat" star's alleged participation in the movie resurfaced after Queen's band manager Jim Beach unveiled a casting announcement for the rumored film during the Artists & Management awards in London.
"You have probably followed the saga of the famous Queen-Freddie Mercury biopic which has been developing in Hollywood for the last seven years," Beach announced to the audience. "An important breakthrough is that we have now managed to persuade Sacha Baron Cohen to write, produce and direct this movie, and he has also agreed to star."
Fans and the press were quick to verify the announcement, but Mercury's band mate Brian May shut down the reports. In his personal website, the guitarist of Queen stated Beach's statements are not serious.
"[Beach] said that, in response to enquiries about the progress on the Freddie feature film, that Sacha Baron Cohen had been re-engaged to write, produce, and direct the film, as well as starring in all four major roles! I'm afraid some folks might have taken it seriously!"
Cohen and the surviving band members like May and drummer Roger Taylor had several arguments about how they want the movie to play out. According to reports, the band members want Freddie Mercury's biopic to be a family-friendly movie that will center on the musicality of Queen, while Cohen would have wanted to make a tell-all film about Mercury's controversial sexuality as a gifted gay musician.
The actor ultimately announced back in 2013 that he was stepping out of the film production because of creative differences.
Cohen is not the only one who decided to leave the project. Just last year, director Dexter Fletcher decided to drop out from the production because of his own artistic differences with film producer Graham King.
At the moment, there are no confirmed details about the Freddie Mercury biopic.
