With the news that actor Sacha Baron Cohen has backed out of his intentions to play the Queen frontman Freddy Mercury in a biopic being planned, betting markets have sprung up on the actor most likely to replace him.
Current favourites include Michael Sheen at odds of 6/1 and Johnny Depp at 8/1 odds.
Cohen Exits Role of Mercury
Despite being involved with the project to create a movie about the life and career of Freddie Mercury for several years now, actor Sacha Baron Cohen has left the set after clashing with Queen's remaining band members over the direction of the movie.
According to Deadline media source, the band "wanted to make more of a PG movie about Queen" while Cohen "was counting on a gritty R-rated tell-all centered around the gay singer."
Apparently Cohen has been at loggerheads with the band members for years already, trying to appease their vision and explain that a tamed version of the movie will not work in today's cut-throat movie industry.
However, even after bringing in Peter Morgan to direct and the King's Speech director David Fincher to work on the project, Cohen has now admitted defeat and stepped away.
Possible Contenders to Act as Mercury
There are a number of serious contenders in the race to play Freddie Mercury who died young after contracting AIDS.
Charlie Sheen has quite a portfolio for playing real characters such as Tony Blair in The Queen and Kenneth Williams in Fantabulosa. However, it is not clear if he can sing - obviously necessary in order to portray one of the most iconic singers of the 20th century.
Johnny Depp has played musical roles before and is one of the world's highest paid actors. However, he bears little physical resemblance to Mercury, which may pose as a problem.
Jim Carrey is an excellent dramatic actor and the Mercury role may be just what he needs to make a comeback after a few quiet years in Hollywood. However, it may be hard for the audience to get past his previous funnyman character of Ace Ventura or other crazy parts he has played in the past.
Bet on Who Will Play Mercury
Paddy Power, the Irish bookmaker has put out a betting market on the actor who will play Freddie Mercury in the next biopic released on the star.
Current Freddy Mercury actor bets odds are:
Michael Sheen - 5/1
Johnny Depp - 8/1
Hugh Jackman, James Franco, Ewan McGregor - 10/1
Jim Carrey - 12/1
Michael Fassbender - 14/1
Andy Serkis, Dominic West - 16/1
Daniel Day Lewis - 18/1
Ben Whishaw, Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult, Mark Strong - 20/1
Jamie Bell, David Morrissey, Joaquin Phoenix, Nicolas Cage, Daniel Radcliffe - 25/1
Aiden Gillen - 33/1
Sean Penn, Matt Smith - 40/1
Tom Selleck - 66/1
Ross Kemp - 80/1
Rylan Clarke, Darius Danesh - 90/1
Alex Mills - 125/1
Elton John - 175/1
John Terry, Luis Suarez - 475/1 link
It would appear that the moronic author of that article seems to have got Charlie Sheen and Michael Sheen mixed up. Either way, I could not see either two working as Freddie (note, spelt with "ie" and not "y" as the article suggests in several places...)
I think whomever they get will most definitely have to look the part, or the illusion won't work.
As much as I detest most all of SBC movies thus far I still think he was best for the part. Of course I don't agree with his assessment of which way the movie should have gone as I get the feeling that he was wanting to graphically focus on FM sexuality, which, IMO should only be a footnote. Now if the show was all about FM's life with Jim Hutton then that is another matter, but that is not the case here.
I think they should go with an unknown. Maybe a good break out role for someone.
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