Best Picture nominee Bohemian Rhapsody is a true story based on the life of singer Freddie Mercury. That said, it does take some liberties with the story, simplifying many aspects to keep the story moving and to make it a bit more flashy.
There wasn't an actual record executive named Ray Foster.
The character is roughly based on EMI chief Roy Featherstone, but he was actually a huge fans of the band. It was true, however, that he thought “Bohemian Rhapsody” was too long to be a single. Everything else about the character, however, is fictional.
However, the time has now come for my friends and fans around the world to know the truth and I hope that everyone will join with me, my doctors and all those worldwide in the fight against this terrible disease." Prenter died from Aids related complications in August 1991 just three months before Mercury died.
Since the band actually helped contribute to the film, it seems that they've always been pro-Bohemian Rhapsody. Brian May, the Queen guitarist who was involved in the production, raved about the cast and crew, particularly Rami.
Mary, now 72, lives a private life behind the high walls of Freddie's London mansion, where fans still make regular visits to pay their respects. April 2023 saw her make the unprecedented announcement she was to auction 1,500 of Freddie Mercury's personal treasures at auction.
Three years after Freddie's death, Jim published a book about his time with the singer titled Mercury and Me. He worked as Freddie's gardener after moving into the singer's Kensington mansion, and preferred to stay away from the rock and roll lifestyle.
The unusual and life-long love between Mary Austin and the singer was played out on screen in the Oscar-winning film Bohemian Rhapsody and Freddie Mercury said he'd love her "Until I draw my last breath. We'll probably grow old together".
Rami Malek needed singing lessons, dance tuition and a dialect coach to transform himself into Freddie Mercury for Bohemian Rhapsody.
Rami himself has revealed that he is lip-syncing, but it's not just Freddie's voice that we hear. "It is an amalgamation of a few voices," he told the Metro US. "But predominantly it is my hope and the hope of everyone that we will hear as much Freddie as possible. I think that is the goal for all of us."
Queen Still Hasn't Made Any Money Off 'Bohemian Rhapsody'
“We thought it would do well in the end, we felt good about it, but we didn't realize it would do that well,” May said in a recent interview on BBC Radio 2's The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show. “It's incredible around the world. It's like a billion-dollar movie.”
Freddie didn't fire Queen manager John Reid
In the Bohemian Rhapsody film, manager John Reid (played by Aidan Gillen) tried to persuade Mercury to drop the rest of the band and go solo, leading the singer to kick the businessman out of his limo and fire him.
Why was Paul Prenter fired by Freddie Mercury? Freddie fired Prenter because he sold a story to a national newspaper about Mercury's personal life. He went into deep detail about Mercury's lifestyle and claimed he slept with hundreds of men. Paul claimed that two former lovers of Freddie's had died from Aids.
Bohemian Rhapsody saw Allen Leech play Freddie Mercury's manager and lover Paul Prenter. A person that many Queen fans have regarded as Freddie's Judas, for selling a story to The Sun about the singer's personal life and intimate relationships.
The band's performance was broadcast to an estimated 1.9 billion people worldwide and helped to raise millions of dollars for famine relief. The success of Queen's performance at Live Aid helped to revive their career, which had been faltering at the time.
4. Freddie Mercury – US$50 million. A cultural icon and the most famous face of all the members of Queen past and present, Mercury amassed a considerable fortune, thought to be worth US$50 million by the time of his death, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Here Freddie is really delving into biblical concepts and a terrible struggle is occurring between God, the Devil & Freddie. Bismillah is an Arabic phrase which means, “in the name of God”. Freddie is pleading to be let go to live his life and be who he is.
The Fandango is not just an online movie ticket outlet. The meaning here is that Fandango is a fast Spanish dance. In the song, it's probably referring to “the hemp fandango,” a delightfully ghastly euphemism for being hanged.
Adam Lambert plays the truck driver who catches Freddie's eye. Midway through the film, Adam Lambert, the current lead singer of Queen, makes a quick — but notable — entrance.
Ali G and Borat comedian Sacha Baron Cohen was the first choice to play Queen legend Freddie Mercury in his biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.
If you notice in the beginning of the movie, Rami's eyes ARE dark brown due to colored contact lens. In an interview he explains that he couldn't continue to wear the contacts because they irritated his eyes to the point of blurring and pain.
But Malek, who also plays a withdrawn hacker on the hit television series Mr. Robot, initially felt so uncomfortable in it that he had to talk himself into wearing it. "I said [to myself], 'Listen, if you're going to play a man who [will] rock this thing out like nobody's business ... you better own this,'" Malek says.
Freddie Mercury may have been one of the more extroverted singers of his generation but his closest friend in Queen was the quietest member. Peter Freestone was a PA to the band and witnessed the friendship from close up and has revealed what bonded Freddie with bassist John Deacon.
On June 2, 1979, Hutton died of liver cancer, two days after his 45th birthday, and a month after being diagnosed.
Freddie's last personal words to his fans was “I still love you” in the video for Days of Our Lives. During concerts he often spoke those words to the fans as well as singing them. His last words to the world can be read online—a statement about his having AIDS.