BORAT RHAPSODY

I'm honestly amazed this hasn't been done yet. I've been racking my brain trying to think of someone better in the role than Cohen and I simply can't...he's absolutely perfect.

Yeah, perfect casting.

Biopics are easily my least favorite genre, but holy shit, that's perfect. Now pray we get a decent director on it.

How's this perfect, so far? Has Cohen done drama yet? I'm curious to see it, but what kind of movie are we talking about?

He did Sweeney Todd. Not that it was great or anything (i do love it). But he's comparable as a performer and physically, the resemblance is great.

Yeah, Man On The Moon seemed like a good idea at the time, too.

John Cameron Mitchell is climbing up the walls to direct this.

Carrey was pretty great there.

It was a great Andy Kaufman impression in a rote movie. And all a great impression does is invite comparison to the real deal. And it will always come up lacking.

Physically Cohen is great casting and I think he's an amazing comedic talent. But I don't know what he's done that has shown he can go deep.

Well there are very few bands in musics history closer to my heart than Queen. Freddie, Brian, Roger and John were my first true musical love from a very early age and I still have a massive soft spot for them to this day. Hell I even got a joke guard of honour out the front of my school the day after Freddie died for chrissake (god I hated my school mates at that school).

The only reason I'd like a biopic is so 'the kids' today could get a sense of what a truly singular and incredible frontman Freddie was. Seriously, the guy was a force of nature on stage with one of the greatest voices to ever sing rock and/or roll. Cohen has the potential to be quite staggeringly good in the role, but I'd be interested to see how he handled the quieter more serious moments in Freddies life - especially post-diagnosis.

That said, if this biopic creates a new generation of Queen fans and their music makes a massive comeback, that'd basically justify the films existence for me regardless of its quality as far as I'm concerned.


To be fair tho Phil, that criticism was levelled at many a comedic actor before they turned to drama, from Robin Williams to Tom Hanks to Eddie Izzard. We'll never know if he doesn't get a shot and I see a quiet intensity under Cohens madcap surface that suggests their may just be a great dramatic actor in there personally.

Also, not to go for the full derail, but the mark of any good biopic is when the actor disappears, and all you see if their subject. Jim Carrey is fucking non-existent in Man On The Moon. Cohen pretty much vanishes into everything he's done. And we already know the man can sing. This could be awesome.

That's fine; it would be great if he pulled it off. Definitely brand new territory for him.

Hell Yes.

Queen were pretty much the perfect band: badass musicians and a ton of unpretentious fun as well.

As excited as I am to see a Freddie biopic, I don't need to see another Runaways or Walk The Line. I think a movie about the band as a whole would be more fitting, maybe set during the making of goofy classic A Night At The Opera. The uniqueness of an astronomer, an accountant, a cyclist and a rock star who also happened to be one of the greatest bands in history should be celebrated.

Queen post-Freddie have shown a serious lapse of taste though, like when they briefly joined forces with that grunting Chuck Norris clone. Ugh.

Can't wait to see Cohen wield the mic stand. Terrific choice.

HELL YES. Inspired bit of casting.

Now who do we get for Brian?

I remember this being a rumor awhile back. Baron Cohen shot it down, and I was immediately bummed, thinking about how wonderful the idea was. So happy it is, in fact, true.

This could be downright legendary, especially given Cohen's swagger and throw-inhibitions-to-the-wall performance mentality. And with Morgan writing the script, my anticipation goes up even further.

Yes to John Cameron Mitchell. And with all the buzz surrounding Rabbit Hole coming out of TIFF this could be the perfect time for him.

Is this the first biopic of a major figure in the stadium rock era? Because this fucker needs to go BIG.

The issue for me will be whether Cohen can sing Freddie's songs, because lip-synching usually doesn't sell me on a performance, and that's a mammoth ask of any singer, let alone actor.

Freddy has such a unique and powerful voice, but they could do worse than Cohen.

I'll go ya one better Judas - three in fact...

Freddie Mercury : Sacha Baron Cohen

Brian May : Ioan Gruffudd

John Deacon : John Simm

Roger Taylor : Andrew Lincoln

There's ya Queen right there baby.

Damn that's great casting and someone I would have never thought of.

Agreed on the singing aspect that is the only part that worries me, the only person who has ever come close to matching Freddie's range was George Micheal at the trubute concert. I think this is one of the rare occasions that lip synching might be the only way to go.

As for the Brian May question just cast Brian May, he looks no older now than he did in the 70's the immortal bastard.

First off, I love Queen. Love them. I love them so much that I couldn't even imagine other people being them in a movie. If someone asked me last week who could play Freddy Mercury, I wouldn't have been able to come up with a single name.

But damn, that's the name. It's inspired. I do share the concerns about handling the vocals, though. Joaquin Phoenix's Johnny Cash was impressive, and another I thought couldn't have been done. But this is a whole other level.

As for directors, please not Julie Taymor. That's all I have to say.

I would have never thought of this in a million years but now that I see it it's about as good as it is possible to get.

And this is coming from someone for whom Queen and Freddie are not only favorites but also a big part in making me what I am today. You see, in my early teens I was still in a "LOL homo" mindset regarding homosexuality. Nothing aggressive but you wouldn't exactly see me flinching whenever the usual stereotypes came up. I just never thought about it and went with the general flow. Learning of Freddie's bisexuality was the first I actually sat myself down and tried to figure out things for myself. That first "Since Freddie sleeps with men and he's pretty much a fucking superhero, maybe I should give my whole attitude some thought" was one of those things that, thinking back, you can actually point at as character defining moments.

Yeah i'm very curious about how this plays out now. Good stuff.

100% same. I'll be honest, as a kid I never had any gay friends, but when one of your heroes growing up is Freddie Mercury, it becomes really hard to become homophobic in later life.

I could see Steve Coogan as May.

Brian May: Paul Bettany
Roger Taylor: Jared Leto
John Deacon: Michael Sheen

All in or around the same age as Cohen.

This is absolutely true. When he was Ali G, Borat, etc he BECAME them, reaching extreme in-character depths that were among comedians rivalled only by (the DM-mentioned) Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge. I think Cohen can definitely do this.

As far as the singing goes, there's no way Cohen's voice will pass for Mercury, and I wasn't a fan of Joaquin Phoenix's Cash vocal approximation, despite his bravura performance.

They should follow the example of La Vie En Rose, and mix real Freddie vocal tracks, where available (e.g. Killer Queen), with skilled impersonators. There are some pretty decent sound-alikes out there -- Gary Mullen for one. Cohen is as fearless as Cotillard was doing Piaf, and I'm sure he'd do just as good a job lip-synching.

Hell, no.

Yeah, I know. He's (a) not Britsh and (b) crap, but I couldn't think of anyone else. Taylor looks more like a young Christopher Walken.

When he drops the OUTRAGEOUS ITALIAN act in Sweeney Todd, Cohen manages to be both scary and sad in the five minutes he's on. I'm sure he'll be fine.

This is absolute bullshit. Cohen playing Freddy Mercury? A famous Asian being played by some white dude. Yay. Seriously though, they don't respect the dude to even get his race correct, what hope is there for the rest of the film?

This sounds like it might be some serious drama, but I hope Cohen throws his comedy fans a bone, like a "MY ASSHOLE IS JUST FOR SHITTING" T-shirt or something.

Cohen is Israeli by birth. It's not like we're talking about a Swedish guy here.

I'm guessing Cohens one of those Eastern European Jewish ppl. Mercury was one of those fair skinned brown dudes. But still, its just weird, and for me it'll be jarring seeing a white dude acting like Mercury.

I would love to see a Queen biopic, but I am worried how good it will be. The Doors, Rockstar, and The Runaways were all average at best.

I did see Queen plus Paul Rodgers. I didn't go with low exceptions, but I did go thinking this will be the closest I'll ever come to seeing Queen. At least I'll get to do all the audience participation stuff: the crowd singing Love of My Life, the claps for Radio GaGa, and of course the stomp stomp clap for We Will Rock You. I had a blast at the show. I see May and Taylor's logic in getting Rodgers. You can't replace Freddie, so get someone who will do their own thing with it.

About a month ago I saw an outstanding Queen tribute band called Almost Queen. They are from New York. They do tour. I saw them at Pittsburgh Hard Rock Cafe.

I honestly couldn't care less about the race of the actor as long as he looks appropriate to the role and has the chops to pull it off. If there's an actor of Parsi descent that bears a physical resemblance to Mercury and is capable of pulling off the job, that's great too, but Baron Cohen isn't going to bother me in the slightest.

I honestly didn't know Mercury wasn't white.

There's no other name actor I can think of who looks the part so perfectly, and I have no doubt he can capture the BIG, flamboyant, charismatic side of Mercury. He's unproven in the dramatic realm, yes, but I have a hunch he has it in him, and I'm excited to see him take a crack at it.

I do get that logic, because it's absolutely true that you can't replace him, but at the same time his voice is such a huge and distinct part of the sound - I don't say this lightly because I'm a guitar geek and a huge fan of Brian May but Freddie is the single most defining element of Queen. I don't think anyone would even try to deny that. So without at least getting someone with a similar style it just stops sounding like Queen, and I think that really that band, that name, died along with Freddie. I totally get the rest of them wanting to continue making music together and that technically they have just as much ownership of the band as he did, and I don't say this in an angry or begrudging way but for me what they do now isn't really Queen.

First off, I'm not trying to be a troll. You like Brain May and Godzilla movies, you must be good people. With Queen all four of them contributed to the success of the band. It was John Deacon who wrote Your My Best Friend, Another Bites the Dust, and I Wanna Break Free. Freddie gets all the attention because he was such a phenomenal frontman. If he wasn't the best ever, only David Lee Roth is better. The whole band was great. I think all those guys should get their due.

You would have enjoyed Brain May's solo at the show I saw.

Thing about Mercury, race-wise, is that if you look at pictures of him as a boy and in his early teens, he's much darker, which brings one to the conclusion that he lightened his skin. Mercury never seemed to have much of a problem being gay/bi, he obviously embraced that part of himself, but in the past several years I've often wondered if he embraced that part of himself in an effort to ignore (and obscure to others) a part of himself that he was really uncomfortable with. I think that's an element that would bring an interesting wrinkle to this biopic. I like the casting though. About a year or so ago some poster on another site said that he'd like to see Cohen in the role, that struck me, so it's been on my mind for a while as well.

Oh I know, I wasn't trying to school you or anything. That's just how I feel about it. I totally admit it's unfair to the other guys to put it that way, Queen wouldn't be Queen without any of them. I just think Freddie is the most prominent element (naturally)

Seriously? That's your idea of the best front man of all time?

Okay, it's an opinion and all, but yikes.

Mercury beats Roth, because well he was a better singer on top of all the charisma.

My point was all four members of Queen should get their due. Of course Freddie is the definition of a rock star.

Not to derail, go on youtube and watch clips from Van Halen playing the US Festival. Roth is going all out to entertain that crowd. Sure he is an egomaniac, but to paraphrase Keith Richards you have to think you have a gift from God, if your going to stand in front of thousands of people and entertain them

I understand that Roth thinks he's that great. I'm just saying that he's not. And trying hard is not an accomplishment in and of itself. There have been many frontmen with more talent and ability and training, and who work just as hard.

I like Van Halen. But they were a band built to be admired by adolescent boys. They work well in that context.

I like Van Halen too. They're were great when they were at the top of their game. But comparing Roth to Mercury doesn't even make sense. Roth may have been charismatic, may have had a hell of stage presence but Mercury on top of that was one of the best rock vocalists of all time. One of the best in any genre if you ask me. You could have said Plant or Gillan, but Roth? I don't think so.

I was talking about being entertaining a crowd, not pure vocal talent. In the latter, no one comes close to Freddie.

To get the tread about Queen again; most of the musical We Will Rock You is on youtube.

He never lightened his skin, and I don't think he was embarassed of being Indian, from all the bios I've seen and read no reason to think this. People from the subcontinent, mainly from the northern regions, have skin that gets dark, yet becomes a clear complexion very easily in the absense of sunlight. Even as an adult Freddy was darker at times. Its not uncommon at all for these brown folk to be darker as children. Plus Freddy lived in Bombay as a child, so its not surprising he was much darker at that point.

The important thing is the actor evokes the character. But I still think casting Cohen in the role of a famous Asian is a bit disrespectful and kinda weird. I'm sure if it was a bio pic about a white dude, and it was being played by an Asian, ppl would be pretty steamed.

Honestly though, I don't see it. I think its terrible choice, but I hope I'm wrong.