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| Darling of the British theater, and British cinema in general and overall well-respected actor Ben Whishaw to replace Sacha Baron Cohen in Queen bio-pic, he actually does resemble Freddie in his younger years. |
I don't know if ya'll have heard, but beloved prankster and general threat to the peace and quiet of our dull society, Sacha Baron Cohen has been officially replaced with chameleon androgynous, is he gay, is he bisexual, skinny tie aficionado Ben Whishaw. I have mixed feelings. I remember telling my mom like way back when Borat (2005) first hit theaters that Sacha Baron Cohen was going to get cast as Freddie Mercury in the eventual bio-pic of his life which has been in the works mmmmm 20 years. I almost got thrown out of a moving car, but hey it made so much sense, still does.
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| Not only was the resemblance uncanny, but Sasha had the charisma in order to carry a role like that if not the acting pedigree, but that can be taught, as can those crazy high notes. |
Why not? He's charismatic, he's outrageous, he's tall and basically looks a great deal like the legendary glam rock front man of my favorite band in the whole world. And after Les Miserables (2012) we all know he can sing, probably not like Freddie, because let's face it, no one can, but there's auto-tune for that. The look of Freddie was actually what worried me the most because no one has looked like that before or since, and I'm not talking about the black glitter fingernail polish nor the outrageous caped spandex onesies, or even the later mustached tight eighties dad jeans, with the leather bands everywhere look either, just the face, and that crazy mouth of his that he basically could unhinge like a snake so that he could hit all of those crazy notes. Also, Sacha's British, and when you hear him speak his dialectical accent is almost identical to Freddie's so I basically you know thought...mission accomplished. It will be great for him too, he'll be able to show off his acting range, and you know everyone and their mother would pay overpriced tickets at the multipex to watch Borat sing 4 bars of 'Seven Seas of Rye'.
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| Then again looks and personality similarities aren't everything. An icon like Mercury is always going to be almost impossible to cast for. |
So who do we have instead? Ben Whishaw from Skyfall (2012) fame, Hamlet on stage fame, and general British pouty lipped fame. I have a feeling they went to the totally opposing side of the spectrum. My friend is telling me that Queen (all both of them) fought really hard to get Sascha removed from the project as to not have their name 'sullied', seriously? And they decided to instead cast the most existentially sensitive crier in cinema today? Ok I'll bite. I'm curious to see it. After all, Whishaw is a hell fo an actor, though he's going to have to beef up considerably even though when Freddie and Queen started out first in the early 70's, he was pretty svelte, but Whishaw always looks like he just conquered a hunger strike. I still have somewhat of an amount of faith in this casting decision because Whishaw has a quiet fire to him; you're never really sure what he's capable of, and even though he seems to lack the charisma on the surface, considering how outgoing and extroverted Freddie Mercury was, he will definitely hit those high dramatic notes without effort, so I say more power to him, but that doesn't mean I still won't be imagining what it would have been like had Sacha been in the role, and hey if the movie as a whole sucks to high heaven, I'll start writing my own version the minute I get back home, and guess who would be my first casting choice?
I'll leave you with some music videos: They are my favorite band after all:
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