Bohemian Rhapsody, the movie about the years leading up to the rock band Queen’s iconic Live Aid performance in the summer of 1985, has won the hearts of audiences worldwide. The music and the acting have Queen and Freddie Mercury fans – and even non-fans – dazzled.
That may largely be due to the performance of Rami Malek as the charismatic Mercury. Especially in the Live Aid scenes, where Malek was so spot on that (apparently) people got confused as to which footage was real.
Photo Credit: Twitter
In an interview, Malek told news.com.au they filmed the Live Aid sequence first. To prepare, he watched the original performance on YouTube, “probably somewhere around 1500 times, maybe more.”
“That’s something we tried to get move for move, even just gesture for gesture perfectly,” he said.
Photo Credit: Twitter
“Every day we did (filmed) a song. Day one, Bohemian. Day two, Radio Gaga. Day three, Hammer To Fall and the Day-O. Four we did Crazy Little Thing Called Love. Five, We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions and on the sixth day we rested,” Malek jokingly told news.com.au. “Then we did the entire show which was the most phenomenal experience one could ever ask for.”
Photo Credit: 20th Century Fox
This is a side by side comparison of Queen’s reunion for Live Aid. Can you tell who is who?
I DIDNT REALIZE THEY DID IT THIS PRECISELY pic.twitter.com/05f6ZW1TMn
— BEST OF FREDDIE MERCURY (@MOMENTOFMERCURY) November 11, 2018
Photo Credit: Twitter
Malek kept the online performance by the flamboyant Mercury on him as he worked, so as to nail the character as perfectly as possible. He even got a set of false teeth from the movie’s costume designer which he wore prior to filming as he studied every one of Mercury’s moves. Clearly the whole cast and crew were dedicated to getting every detail right.
And, as near as the world can tell, they pretty much did.
