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Baron Cohen departs Freddie Mercury biopic?

July 22nd, 2013 by Marc 2 Comments

Deadline is reporting that Sacha Baron Cohen has walked away from the planned Freddie Mercury biopic.

The site claims the comic departed the project over creative differences with Mercury’s remaining band members in Queen.

Apparently Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon (if involved) — who have script and director approval — want the film to be a family-friendly PG flick, while Cohen has always intended for it to be an R-rated, unflinching look at Mercury’s life.

Cohen recently commissioned a script by Peter Morgan and developed the project with directors like David Fincher and Tom Hooper, but the band members never signed off.

Is this disappointing news or is a Freddie Mercury biopic a bad idea anyway?

Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….