Sacha Baron Cohen Withdraws From Freddie Mercury Movie

Neal Preston/ The New York Times
Freddie Mercury, the rock musician and front man of Queen.

He had paid his dues, time after time, done his sentence but committed no crime â€" and yet, Sacha Baron Cohen will not be portraying Freddie Mercury in a coming biographical film. The project, which raised eyebrows when it was announced in 2010, would have seen Mr. Baron Cohen play Mercury, the flamboyant rock star and front man of Queen, in the era surrounding that band’s performance at the 1985 Live Aid benefit concert. (Though Mr. Baron Cohen is better known for reality-based comedies like “Borat” and “Bruno,” he has sung in movies like “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” and “Les Misérables” and is certainly capable of growing a mustache.)

But now, Deadline.com reports, Mr. Baron Cohen has withdrawn from the project, citing that crazy little thing called creative differences: He wanted a grittier treatment of Mercury, who died of AIDS in 1991, while the surviving Queen band mates were hoping for “more of a PG movie,” Deadline.com said. Producers of the film, which was being written by Peter Morgan (“The Queen”) and looking at directors like Tom Hooper (“Les Misérables”), will try to keep their project from biting the dust by seeking a new actor to play Mercury.