From the Queen website:
"Freddie defied stereotypes and shattered convention to become one of the most beloved entertainers on the planet.
The film traces the meteoric rise of the band through their iconic songs and revolutionary sound. They reach unparalleled success, but in an unexpected turn Freddie, surrounded by darker influences, shuns Queen in pursuit of his solo career. Having suffered greatly without the collaboration of Queen, Freddie manages to reunite with his bandmates just in time for Live Aid. While bravely facing a recent AIDS diagnosis, Freddie leads the band in one of the greatest performances in the history of rock music."
I have several questions. It seems the movie will assume Fred's gone solo because he doesn't want to be with Queen. Didn't they all have solo projects at some point? Also, it seems the movie will depict Freddie as having found out his HIV status before Live Aid which I haven't seen in any biography. I guess they are entitled to some artistic license with the film but there's something about this synopsis that grates.
The things you mentioned are changed for the film. The film is going to end with Live Aid, therefore Freddie gets his diagnosis earlier.
The other’s solo projects might not be a part of the film, because the main focus will be on Freddie.
It’s all for dramatic reasons. We might not like it, but that‘s how the film industry works.
Much of the timeline has been discussed over the years on here at length. There are some points which, although I'm not an expert on (I'm not Freddie), I do have an opinion on based on some information I have - but I allow for that information to be wrong so don't hang me for this!
Some people think Freddie started the solo project Mr Bad Guy in order to break away from Queen, or to at least see if he could have success without Queen. It's now known that some of the songs on Mr Bad Guy were actually demo'd as Queen songs. What I don't know is if any of the other band members playing ended up on the final cuts or not. It was pretty clear to Freddie during the process of recording Mr Bad Guy that the album wasn't going to be as successful as a Queen album, which is why in interviews regarding the solo album he speaks a little more humbly about his relationship with Queen than he had done on some previous occasions. Actually Freddie didn't suffer greatly. When Mr Bad Guy was not the success he had hoped for, he just ploughed all his energy into Queen again, and in fact he was on tour with Queen for much of 1984 and 1985, when the album was released. Although 1985 seemed like a 'year off' for Queen, it was actually a very busy working year in terms of touring and recording, it's just that there was only one single released that year from the band.
Freddie would have most likely realised he wasn't very well in 1985, and had probably twigged something was up a couple of years before. I'm talking purely in terms of having symptoms here, I'm not talking in terms of having the knowledge of an HIV diagnosis. That AIDS was caused by a virus wasn't known until 1984, when it was identified by a French scientist. There was the HTLV virus discovery in 1980 and according to a google search, the two viruses are not identical but very similar and spread in the same way. Freddie, being wealthy, and having access to private doctors would have been able to take a test before the test was released to the general public, but not before the test was invented. I have a friend who said worked as a microbiologist in an AIDS lab in the 1980s, and she said in 2001 that Freddie tested positive around 1984 (meaning it was the HTLV test) or 1985 (meaning it was the HIV test). Remember though, that although now we live in an age where a quick google search can tell you exactly when and where something happened in the recent past, in 2001 it wasn't quite the same, and there were no smart phones to double check exactly when the HIV test became available. It is quite possible that the first time Freddie knew he was infected was in 1987 when he was told by a doctor he had developed the illness. There is the interview by Mary Austin from about 10 years ago, and she claimed he knew at Knebworth that he was HIV positive and likely already symptomatic.
Some on this forum attribute Freddie's avoidance of America after 1984 (or whenever....) to his AIDS diagnosis, and while it's possible there simply isn't enough evidence to say if that was a factor or not. The Live Aid question, yes Freddie certainly was facing a terminal illness by that time, but whether or not he knew it, and if he knew something was wrong whether or not he realised exactly what it was, we just won't know.
In his close circle of friends apparently Freddie rarely spoke of the virus, never spoke about when he thought he caught it, and we don't know if he tested positive before 1987 because that is the only record there is for the general public, that he ever tested for HIV, aside from some anecdotal evidence.
Hope that helps!
miraclesteinway has answered everything. In reality It's unlikely he would have been tested for the virus before Live Aid. The HIV test wasn't used on individual people until mid 1985, before this point it was only used on donated blood at blood banks and i'm not sure he would be wanting the stigma of asking doctors to use the HTLV before then considering it wasn't 100% reliable and there was a bit of a "Ignorance is bliss" attitude.
We will never know when Freddie Knew, but we do know he told people outside his small circle of friends in 1987, Mary said he knew by the end of 1986.
And yes to everything else, because they want to end at Live Aid, for reasons i can't fathom, the timeline has shifted and the personal storylines have moved to be a year or two earlier.
miraclesteinway - thats a pretty comprehensive and helpful answer. thanks!
agree re HIV symptoms - i suppose he already felt something was wrong in the years leading to Live Aid and Magic tour.
It looks to me like he already knew in summer 1986. The clue is in his Budapest interview, where he's asked if he's ever going to come back to Budapest and he says "yes, if I'm still alive then" or something like that.