Freddie Mercury was an irreplaceable rock god, but someone is doing a pretty good job of replicating him. Deco’s killer Queen correspondent Chris Van Vliet hung out with the stars of “Bohemian Rhapsody” today in SoFlo. Chris isn’t the one replicating him, by the way. If you’ve seen the trailers for “Bohemian Rhapsody,” you’ll know Rami Malek is a spitting image of Freddie Mercury. Chris chatted with him and the rest of his band in Miami earlier today.
Rami Malek (as Freddie Mercury): “Ayyyyy ohh!”
While “Bohemian Rhapsody” is a movie about Queen, it’s really the story about the life of their legendary lead singer, Freddie Mercury.
Reporter (in movie): “Freddie, concerning your private life…”
Rami Malek (as Freddie Mercury): “What more do you need to know? I make music.”
Freddie is played by Rami Malek, who you might recognize from the TV show “Mr. Robot.”
Chris Van Vliet: “Had anyone ever told you that you looked like Freddie Mercury before this?”
Rami Malek: “No, no, no. I had never really got that. I got called into a meeting with them, flew out to Los Angeles and for about six hours I kept reiterating to them that I’m not a singer, I don’t play the piano.”
Apparently they were willing to teach him, and good thing they did because Rami absolutely disappears into the role and completely embodies Freddie Mercury.
Gwilym Lee (as Brian May): “So now what?”
Rami Malek (as Freddie Mercury): “This is when the operatic section comes in.”
Gwilym Lee (as Brian May): “Ah, the operatic section.”
Chris Van Vliet: “So if I gave you guys some instruments right now, what song would you be able to go in that studio and play right now?”
Joseph Mazzello: “I would go with ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ because it’s the easiest and I learned it first.”
Gwilym Lee: “And it’s all about the bass.”
Joseph Mazzello: “Exactly, yeah. It’s me, which is most important.”
If you love Queen, you will fall in love with this movie. All of your favorite songs are in here plus a backstory on how and why some of them were written.
Gwilym Lee (as Brian May): “I want to give the audience a song that they can perform.” *Stomp, stomp, clap*
So with all this experience now, how would these guys feel about getting on stage and actually playing with Queen?
Rami Malek: “Yeah that happened once. The first time I went to go see Queen and Adam Lambert, Jim Beach, the band’s manager, came and sought me out of the audience and he starts taking me backstage onto the stage and I’m like, ‘No, no, no, no.'”
Gwilym Lee (as Brian May): “You’re a legend, Fred.”
Rami Malek (as Freddie Mercury): “We’re all legends.”
Now we have to wait a bit for this movie to rock us.
“Bohemian Rhapsody” is in theaters on Nov. 2, and we promise you that you won’t be able to get those songs out of your head for days.
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