[BostonCard]

That was my take exactly.  I thought Rami Malek (Mercury), Ben Hardy (Taylor) and Gwilym Lee (May) were superb. Taylor and May had artistic control over the movie, so it was unlikely to be anything other than sanitized.

Sacha Baron Cohen was originally set to play Mercury. Now THAT would have been interesting.  But he left over "creative differences."  Guess he couldn't be outrageous enough.  He wanted a gritty, R-Rated "tell-all."

Director Bryan Singer and Malek didn't get along at all.  Singer quit 2/3 of the way through, but was still listed as the Director (Academy rules state that there can only be one director).  

A couple of real-life edits to the film: 
* Mercury was not the first band member to release a solo album.  May and Taylor each released a solo album before Mercury.  Taylor actually released TWO albums.
* John Deacon was not the first bassist, he was the fourth.
* They didn't have to "get back into shape."  Their last tour had ended just eight weeks earlier.
* Live Aid was in 1985.  Band members weren't made aware that Mercury was HIV-positive until 1989.

The other big discrepancy is that the band is portrayed as having made it financially before the release of A Night at the Opera.  And while it is true they sold plenty of records, the band was so broke that Rosie Horide, a journalist used to bring bottles of wine with her when interviewing the band, because they didn't even have money for booze.  The reason is that they were ripped off by their first manager, Norman Sheffield, which is the basis for "Death on Two Legs (dedicated to...)" 

BC

[BostonCard]

That was my take exactly.  I thought Rami Malek (Mercury), Ben Hardy (Taylor) and Gwilym Lee (May) were superb. Taylor and May had artistic control over the movie, so it was unlikely to be anything other than sanitized.

Sacha Baron Cohen was originally set to play Mercury. Now THAT would have been interesting.  But he left over "creative differences."  Guess he couldn't be outrageous enough.  He wanted a gritty, R-Rated "tell-all."

Director Bryan Singer and Malek didn't get along at all.  Singer quit 2/3 of the way through, but was still listed as the Director (Academy rules state that there can only be one director).  

A couple of real-life edits to the film: 
* Mercury was not the first band member to release a solo album.  May and Taylor each released a solo album before Mercury.  Taylor actually released TWO albums.
* John Deacon was not the first bassist, he was the fourth.
* They didn't have to "get back into shape."  Their last tour had ended just eight weeks earlier.
* Live Aid was in 1985.  Band members weren't made aware that Mercury was HIV-positive until 1989.

The other big discrepancy is that the band is portrayed as having made it financially before the release of A Night at the Opera.  And while it is true they sold plenty of records, the band was so broke that Rosie Horide, a journalist used to bring bottles of wine with her when interviewing the band, because they didn't even have money for booze.  The reason is that they were ripped off by their first manager, Norman Sheffield, which is the basis for "Death on Two Legs (dedicated to...)" 

BC