Rami Malek has opened up about the moment he was offered the Freddie Mercury role in the upcoming Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.
Out November 2nd, the film is set to chronicle Queen’s rise from 1970 right up until the band’s iconic performance at Live Aid. Rami Malek, best known ‘Mr Robot’ role, has been set the task of capturing the legend that is Mercury.
Admitting that taking the role came with huge pressure, Malek described the opportunity as a “kind of the gun-to-the-head moment,” in a new interview with The Guardian.
“What do you do? And I like to think if it’s a fight or flight situation, I’m going to fight,” he added. “The scariest endeavours that I’ve chosen to take in my life have been the most fulfilling and rewarding. And this has proven to defend that equation,” he added.
“It’s an arduous thing to tell someone’s life in just two hours,” he continued. “What’s the nature of celebrating a life? Definitely not avoiding his death in any way, or what caused his death, which is the Aids virus. But I think if you don’t celebrate his life, and his struggles, and how complicated he was, and how transformative he was – and wallow instead in the sadness of what he endured and his ultimate death – then that could be a disservice to the profound, vibrant, radiant nature of such an indelible human being.”