Sacha Baron Cohen's gonna rock you as Freddie Mercury!
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Major news coming out of Deadline last night had Sacha Baron Cohen, the unorthodox 38 year old Brit behind eccentrics 'Ali Gi', 'Bruno' and 'Borat', attached to a biopic of the charismatic late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, in a new film produced by Graham King's GK Films and Robert De Niro's Tribeca Productions. Genius, yeah? Cohen has the fearlessness of Mercury that is clear from every role in his filmography. He is certainly a showman, a performer and a man of boundless energy. Like Mercury, he lives on the reactions of the general public to heighten his persona and well, he kinda looks like the legendary singer too, especially in his Borat get-up above. Certainly they have a similar figure, and I can't imagine any actor working today who has as much physical resemblance or is better suited for this. At this point it's unknown whether Cohen will go the 'Walk the Line' route of providing vocals as besides his brief turn in Sweeney Todd (where he stole a scene from Johnny Depp, no less) we haven't seen his X-Factor audition yet, if you will. But then, there is no-one that's alive or dead who had the voice range of Mercury. Dramatic wise, his CV is also a little lightweight. Not that I think he can't do this because I firmly believe guys like Cohen are capable of anything - it's just this part will challenge him to go where he has never gone before as an actor. I think he can handle it - if he can convince the general public he was a crazy television presenter from Kazakhstan, then Mercury's a doddle right? Queen is one of the greatest rock bands of all time, and a music brand all unto itself, he said in a statement. Freddie Mercury was an awe-inspiring performer, so with Sacha in the starring role coupled with Peters screenplay and the support of Queen, we have the perfect combination to tell the real story behind their success.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DuoBTJdmds&feature=fvst