Bohemian Rhapsody — the highly anticipated Freddie Mercury biopic — delighted audiences at CinemaCon on Thursday. Mercury’s portrayer, Rami Malek, took the stage before the first footage from the film was shown. The Emmy winner, best known for his role on Mr. Robot, expressed mixed feelings after landing the role.
“When I got the role I said ‘Oh my God.’ This could be a career-defining performance and two minutes later I thought this could be a career killer,” Malek admitted, in wanting to get his portrayal just right. He added he was humbled by the role and considers Mercury “the greatest performer of all time.”
#BohemianRhapsody star Rami Malek on portraying Freddie Mercury, "What he does in his music is give everyone the ability to embrace all their imperfections and sing as loud as they can." #CinemaCon @QueenWillRock
— Lawrence Yee (@lawryee) April 26, 2018
The footage showed how Mercury first met his future Queen bandmates Brian May and Roger Taylor. May and Taylor bemoaned the fact that their lead singer quit, and Mercury offered to replace him. “Not with those teeth,” they quipped, one of the several humorous bits shown (including Mercury trying to encourage a bandmate to hit the high note in Bohemian Rhapsody).
The remainder of the footage showed Queen’s struggles to find distribution and promotion and eventual success. It also delved into his relationship with Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton), who seemed to compete with fans for Mercury’s adoration.
Mercury’s sexuality was addressed only in one scene, where he seemingly accepts the advances of another man.
More performance footage followed, ending with Mercury taking the stage at the 1985 LiveAid concert. As he emerges in front of the massive crowd, a voiceover sounds “You’re a legend, Freddie. We’re all legends.”
Bohemian Rhapsody opens November 2, 2018,
