QueenZone discussion #1356992
Freddie Mercury biopic 'probably won't happen' (Peter Morgan via BBC)
| Marknow 02.09.2013 09:44 |
From http://www.nme.com/filmandtv/news/freddie-mercury-biopic-probably-wont-happen-following/318850 The long-planned biopic of Freddie Mercury is unlikely to go ahead following Sacha Baron Cohen's exit, the film's writer has revealed. Baron Cohen had been attached to star as Mercury since September 2010, but he pulled out of the project in July, reportedly because he and Queen, who have script and director approval, were unable to agree on the type of movie they want to make. The band apparently want the biopic to be a PG affair, while the actor was keen to delve into the grittier, more adult aspects of Mercury's famously hedonistic lifestyle. Now screenwriter Peter Morgan, whose script was reportedly turned down by Queen, has revealed that the project has been shelved, according to a tweet from the BBC's Entertainment News Team. Morgan is the Oscar-nominated screenwriter behind The Queen, Frost/Nixon and this month's Rush. His script, it was reported in March, was to begin with the formation of Queen in the early '70s and end with their legendary 1985 Live Aid set. |
| Marknow 02.09.2013 09:49 |
While not a definitive shelving of the Biopic It is hardly surprising to hear. Shame Brian and Roger could not walk away and leave it to the professionals. The distinction between a truly reflective biopic and protecting "the brand" has become too much of an obstacle to overcome. I doubt Brian and Roger will ever read this but they should have backed off. |
| Martin Packer 02.09.2013 10:27 |
I think they were trying to protect Freddie's reputation rather than The Brand. Something that can't very effectively be protected. |
| ANAGRAMER 02.09.2013 12:08 |
Agreed. Who knows what kind of movie had been planned. It's not surprising that BM and RT wanted control It's really up to them to protect the reputation of their colleague and friend,wouldn't we all? |
| MartynTS 02.09.2013 12:45 |
ANAGRAMER wrote: Agreed. Who knows what kind of movie had been planned. It's not surprising that BM and RT wanted control It's really up to them to protect the reputation of their colleague and friend,wouldn't we all? I agree. Personally I would rather see a biopic rather than a 'tribute' type of movie, but that's just me being nosey. I don't blame them for not wanting to go that direction, since it might be to many people's distaste. Wanting him to be remembered as a great musician and friend rather than whatever promiscuous things that possibly happened isn't unreasonable. If he was more of a "normal" rock star, if there is such a thing, then people probably wouldn't mind the wildness. Sex, drugs, and Rock N' Roll. Queen in pop culture seems pretty tame, and I suppose keeping it that way is best for business, also. |
| Mr.QueenFan 02.09.2013 13:47 |
I'm glad that Roger and Brian are in control. It's up to them to make the type of film they feel confortable with. Enough of fake hollywood bios aiming the Oscars. If Peter Morgan feels this way about the project, then he can leave. There's lots of people who could write great scripts. Leave it to a real Queen fan like Rhys Thomas. With Rhys passion for the band and the music, i believe he could come up with something excellent. |
| Sheer Brass Neck 02.09.2013 13:51 |
Sure, but then it becomes a sanitized project, which isn't truthful. So it becomes another Freddie myth building exercise. The Eagles recent doc was warts and all, that's what I'd like to see from Queen, never happen though. |
| k-m 02.09.2013 14:46 |
Shame. Honestly, I was not an enthusiast of SBC taking the lead at all, but when I heard his reasons for bowing out, I actually saw the logic there and felt for the guy. I mean, how on Earth would you give an authentic and honest portrayal of Freddie Mercury's life with a PG rating? The idea seems farcical to me. At the same time, I have no reason to think that SBC, Peter Morgan and any other filmmakers involved wanted a graphic, vulgar, 18 rated movie. I mean, these people have got brains too. Brian and Roger fucked this up big time for me. However, when I think about it, I should not be surprised at all. The Made in Heaven album (as much as I like it) was watered down in the same kind of sentimentality, the same applies to the popular, mass approach of WWRY musical and recent Queen Extravaganza project. You can eat me for this, but all these projects were safe and lacked personality and edginess. All these Five, Robbie and Britney collaborations... Gosh!!! At least they saved some low keys for the "Mother Love" arrangement, including Brian's haunting solo. It will sound harsh, but it was one of the rare moments after Freddie's death when they actually put art first, instead of worrying about how people and the record company will react. |
| inu-liger 02.09.2013 15:07 |
See, this is why musicians who have had little actual direct interaction with movie making (sorry, music videos don't count!) in Hollywood should not waste their time trying to create projects that they don't want to have anything less than 100% control over in the first place. Experienced movie makers exist for a reason, they know what they are doing and would be best suited with the knowledge how to reach the audience and demographic as how it should be appropriately targeted, and contrary to what musicians or their estates may wishwashfully want to think, know what their audiences want. Brian and Roger definitely failed big time with letting their egos and protectionism getting in the way. |
| brians wig 02.09.2013 15:16 |
I'm kinda glad it's not happening. I don't really think the world needs to see a film about Freddies private life. |
| cmsdrums 02.09.2013 15:20 |
Brian has tweeted a comment in reaction to Peter Morgan's 'it's probably not going to happen', to say "he reckons?!" Seems rather combatative?!! |
| Marknow 02.09.2013 15:30 |
Poor old Bri is in denial, bless him. The project will probably be shelved within six months. Peter Morgan knows the business quite well and he can see whats coming. Looking forward to seeing how they back out of it, will probably blame "Hollywood" and anybody else they can, as usual. |
| AdamMethos 02.09.2013 19:51 |
Double post... |
| AdamMethos 02.09.2013 19:52 |
inu-liger wrote: See, this is why musicians who have had little actual direct interaction with movie making (sorry, music videos don't count!) in Hollywood should not waste their time trying to create projects that they don't want to have anything less than 100% control over in the first place. Experienced movie makers exist for a reason, they know what they are doing and would be best suited with the knowledge how to reach the audience and demographic as how it should be appropriately targeted, and contrary to what musicians or their estates may wishwashfully want to think, know what their audiences want.To be fair, a lot of crap gets put out by experienced movie makers too, so blindly trusting them is no answer either. I think the problem is that Brian and Roger don't have a strong vision of what movie they want, just vague ideas and "we'll know what we like when we see it." If they have a strong vision, it wouldn't have taken them this long to figure out that the people they hired had a totally different approach to the movie than what they wanted. |
| aion 02.09.2013 20:54 |
This piece of news does not bother me at all. My impression is that Sacha Baron Cohen would have wanted an actual, serious movie while Brian and Roger wanted an airbrushed, polished, neatly wrapped plug for the Queen Brand; a sort of "Freddie Mercury Commercial" or a We Will Rock You musical as a movie. A Disney version of Freddie's life. That goes in line with the traditional releases of Queen Productions and the lame projects with teen idols that Brian and Roger embark on, and it would have resulted in an abysmal movie. I was never excited about the Freddie biopic and I'm only kind of glad that it goes away, because from a movie-goer's perspective I never saw it as a good idea: even if it had been a success on its own terms (= Brian & Roger wouldn't have any say about it whatsoever and there'd be a decent director, writer and casting) it still wouldn't have been more special than any average bland biopic about Princess Diana or Johnny Cash or some athlete. It wouldn't have been great cinema, it would not have deserved more than 5-6 stars on IMDb. A documentary about Freddie's life is enough and that already exists. The world doesn't need a Freddie Mercury movie any more than it needs Freddie Mercury comics, Freddie Mercury trading cards, a Freddie Mercury beer brand or Freddie Mercury colouring books. |
| musicland munich 02.09.2013 23:46 |
aion wrote: I The world doesn't need a Freddie Mercury movie any more than it needs Freddie Mercury comics, Freddie Mercury trading cards, a Freddie Mercury beer brand or Freddie Mercury colouring books.you can call me an @sshole but I am interestet in that beer brand :) |
| tcc 03.09.2013 00:45 |
I think SBS backed out because he tried to train but found that he could not sing. Miming to another singer's voice would reduce his chances of getting an Oscar, which is the goal of any actor. He probably prefers the movie to be on the personal life rather than the singing life to overcome his difficulty in singing like Freddie. |
| dudeofqueen 03.09.2013 03:55 |
Thank christ for that. There has never been a good bio-pic of a musician and this wouldn't have set the bar very high either. The only interesting thing about Freddie's life to those outside of his fanbase was his hedonistic lifestyle and none of us wants to see a film concentrating on that, do we. |
| Pingfah 03.09.2013 04:31 |
tcc wrote: I think SBS backed out because he tried to train but found that he could not sing. Miming to another singer's voice would reduce his chances of getting an Oscar, which is the goal of any actor. He probably prefers the movie to be on the personal life rather than the singing life to overcome his difficulty in singing like Freddie.It sounds much more likely that the band wanted a fluff piece, and the movie makers wanted a serious movie. |
| Marknow 03.09.2013 04:52 |
tcc wrote: I think SBS backed out because he tried to train but found that he could not sing. Miming to another singer's voice would reduce his chances of getting an Oscar, which is the goal of any actor. He probably prefers the movie to be on the personal life rather than the singing life to overcome his difficulty in singing like Freddie. He mimed Sweeney Todd, he tried singing but did not make the grade, a lot of people still think that was him singing but it was not. |
| Togg 03.09.2013 08:07 |
It will be back on shortly, it's only one part that needs casting, admittedly the important one, but hardly a reason for the film to be shelved, 90% of hollywood films have casting defections and upsets right up till the camera rolls, they will simply find another actor and get on with it. |
| DragonflyTrumpeter83 03.09.2013 08:33 |
It's probably best that this film doesn't get made. I said from the beginning SBC was a horrible choice for Freddie and now that he's out, they should just let it go. I don't know too many UK actors, but I can tell you, there's no one in Hollywood that can play this part. Then again, this movie might work if they cast a young, unknown Middle Eastern/Asian actor, who knows? |
| Marknow 03.09.2013 08:43 |
It's not a definitive shelving of the project by any means, just the opinion of somebody who was involved in the project until his script was rejected. SBC leaving the production is not the reason PM thinks the production will be halted, the reason why SBC left coupled by the rejection of PM's script is the motivation behind PM's comment, backed up be years of knowledge and experience in watching fools out of their depth watering down great ideas for personal gain. The "producers" are damn lucky Robert De Niro is a fan and a friend lord knows anyone else would have to them to go fuck themselves back in March when it all began to go pear shaped. Sooner or later this project will be dropped by it's current backers, the only way it will go ahead is if QP fund it, when they realise the only way to move forward is to put their own money behind it then they will back out. The Freddie Mercury Biopic Produced by Brian May and Roger Taylor Directed by The Torpedo Twins Hell no. |
| The Fairy King 03.09.2013 08:44 |
Apparently still going strong.... http://www.gigwise.com/news/83957/freddie-mercury-biopic-still-alive-after-sacha-baron-cohens-exit |
| Togg 04.09.2013 05:41 |
Of course it's still going, way too much money and time involved to stop it just because an actor has walked, they will simply get another one, you can't tell me there aren't hundreds of actors out there that wouldn't love to get the part. It may well go to an unknown, but either way I would say with 100% certainty that it will get made |
| tero! 48531 04.09.2013 10:32 |
Togg wrote: Of course it's still going, way too much money and time involved to stop it just because an actor has walked, they will simply get another one, you can't tell me there aren't hundreds of actors out there that wouldn't love to get the part. It may well go to an unknown, but either way I would say with 100% certainty that it will get madeHow on earth can you say about ANY Queen related project that it's 100% guaranteed to happen? Bloody hell, QP has FINISHED products sitting on the shelf which haven't been released because they changed their minds afte the work was done. Jusi like any other Queen release, this biopic isn't certain until it's actually released for the audience to buy. |
| Apocalipsis_Darko 04.09.2013 18:57 |
Robert De Niro is not a fan...he was asked, in the premiere of WWRY (horrible musical for my subjective opinion) about his favorite song by Queen, and you can watch he didn't know what to say...Is only money. link |
| Snackpot 05.09.2013 01:10 |
Unless you're getting into personal life then what's the point of making a biographical movie? I'm sorry but 'man has successful singing career' doesn't constitute a 'plot'. It's like agreeing to make an album but then protesting against the use of musicians or instruments. If you're making a cake you need sugar, flour and eggs. An album; instruments and musicians. A movie? You need a plot. I can only imagine what sanitized, mundane storyline they must have had in mind. "Coming this summer to a movie theater near you: The story of the man who sang a bit, and was good at it" ...because if you leave out the personal life/issues stuff that is ALL you're going to get and my any stretch of the imagination that isn't a movie. I heard they wanted to end it on the Magic tour. So the climax of the show, the whole 'hook' for the audience will whether Freddie can hit the note on the middle-eighth of WWTLF in Holland? It seems this movie could either be interesting and protray Freddie's professional and personal life sympathetically but accurately - or it can be a complete waste of time. They seem to be going down the 'complete waste of time' route. Imagine Brian and Roger's approach to other projects. Kings Speech? No need to dwell on the stammer, it's too personal. Just make a movie where this man was King for a bit and was quite good at it. Helen Mirren's 'The Queen' ? Forget all that Diana stuff. Let's just make a film of this woman who was Queen for a bit and was quite good at it. La Bamba? Plane crashes and death are things we don't want to dwell on. Make a movie about a guy who sang for a bit and was quite good at it. |
| Mark_Glasgow 05.09.2013 02:48 |
If Brian and Roger are going to have the final say on this, and they want a sanitised version of events....then you may as well just watch the recent documentary "Days of Our Lives" !! I thought the film was about Freddie and his life, sounds like they just want a film about Freddie and his music.....how are you going to make an interesting film about that which will appeal to a wider audience?? Yet again another opportunity lost....I wish John Deacon would come back and kick their arses back into the real world. Still, at least Brian is back to his best musically...making songs about fucking badgers!!!!!!!! |
| tcc 05.09.2013 03:45 |
A movie is at least 2 hours. How many minutes of gay scenes do you need to show that he was gay ? To fill in the time, it may need to show the personal aspects of the other band members' lives, such as Roger marrying how many times, Brian marrying two times, John purportedly having a good time with a dancer. Would the present band members want these anecdotes of their lives to be shown in a movie ? |
| Snackpot 05.09.2013 06:05 |
There's more to his personal life than being gay. Similarly there's more to being gay than occasional scenes of someone being bummed. The trauma, struggle and heartbreak of him failing to maintain a relationship throughout the height of his popularity, the sex, drugs, the excess etc. There's a lot to tell but it would appear as if the most exciting thing we're likely to get is the untold story of how his car broke down on way to film the video for Radio Ga Ga and he turned up two hours late, throwing the lunch schedule into chaos. |
| splicksplack 05.09.2013 06:07 |
Snackpot wrote: There's more to his personal life than being gay. Similarly there's more to being gay than occasional scenes of someone being bummed.... and there's more to gay sex than "bumming". |
| Togg 05.09.2013 08:47 |
Sure nothing is 100% guaranteed i guess I will give you that, but this is not a simple DVD re-master or re-worked film of a concert, this is much bigger, many hours of work on scripts and locations and actors, pre-production alone will mount up to the same figures spent putting on a tour, so they have a hell of a lot more invested in this then they do in a DVD of a concert. Plus they have business partners in other companies who will want to see a return on this.
So speaking from a purely business point of view I would say it WILL get made, companies are not going to throw away hundreds of thousands of pounds simply because the lead actor walked, they will simply find another.
What happens to it in the end will depend on how well made it is, whether it goes straight to DVD or gets a general release we shall see, but I am certain this will not de-rail such a big project.
The only projects QPL shelve our ones that they have limited funds invested in. Greg digging around for a year in the vaults trying to cobble together a lost film is not going to loose them much money if they then shelve it.
But getting hollywood scripts, directors and production involved is ramping up the bucks... so yes it will happen.
tero! 48531 wrote:Togg wrote: Of course it's still going, way too much money and time involved to stop it just because an actor has walked, they will simply get another one, you can't tell me there aren't hundreds of actors out there that wouldn't love to get the part. It may well go to an unknown, but either way I would say with 100% certainty that it will get madeHow on earth can you say about ANY Queen related project that it's 100% guaranteed to happen? Bloody hell, QP has FINISHED products sitting on the shelf which haven't been released because they changed their minds afte the work was done. Jusi like any other Queen release, this biopic isn't certain until it's actually released for the audience to buy. |
| Robbe100 05.09.2013 11:18 |
Oh great news ! Thank god ! I don't want a movie about freddie ! I don't want some actor to play Freddie , there is only one , if you want his story read biographies or watch documentaries . |
| aion 05.09.2013 13:49 |
Snackpot wrote: Unless you're getting into personal life then what's the point of making a biographical movie? I can only imagine what sanitized, mundane storyline they must have had in mind. "Coming this summer to a movie theater near you: The story of the man who sang a bit, and was good at it" ...because if you leave out the personal life/issues stuff that is ALL you're going to get and my any stretch of the imagination that isn't a movie. I heard they wanted to end it on the Magic tour. So the climax of the show, the whole 'hook' for the audience will whether Freddie can hit the note on the middle-eighth of WWTLF in Holland?Very much true. Personally I have little interest to see a movie about Freddie but I'll admit that his life story as a whole was much more interesting and eventful than that of most musicians: for example he was with that Mary woman but then realized he was gay and they broke up, he composed the strange masterpiece Bohemian Rhapsody, he lived the excessive sex drugs & rock'n'roll lifestyle with outrageous parties in the late 70s and early 80s, he got AIDS as a result and retired from the public eye, living quietly until his premature and tragic death from the illness. His appearance changed greatly during a few years, he was friends with some famous people and he could be a bit of man of contradictions in that on stage he was this majestic and adored figure and he took part in the wild rock star life, but he could also be a reserved person in private and not do many interviews. So whether Freddie's life translates into a good movie or not completely depends on how it is handled. If some really talented people made a movie of Freddie's life it could be worthwhile - however it would never be that if it was simply about him being a great singer. There would be no drama in a movie about his professional life and especially if it's done by Queen Productions or with Brian & Roger in creative control it wouldn't any more serious movie than some polished Justin Bieber promo clip. Sacha Baron Cohen and Brian & Roger disagreeing about the rating does not give me the idea that SBC wanted to do a two-hour gay porn movie (he's supposed to be a fan and reasonable person after all), it suggests that he didn't want to stay away from the personal issues while Brian and Roger didn't want to touch them at all. But as said, if it's about Freddie being a great singer and great and successful person and ends with the Live Aid performance or Magic Tour then you could hardly call it a movie at all - it would just be a laughable Freddie Mercury commercial and no film critic could take it seriously (maybe it could be shown exclusively at some fan club conventions). I don't know why I even wrote so much as i don't really care about the whole thing. |
| aion 05.09.2013 13:50 |