Couldn't be any worse than the possibility of a Freddie Mercury bio-pic that's been hovering around the last few years. I don't really begrudge Brian May or Roger Taylor for wanting a more uplifting narrative, but the part of the story that is really crying out for this sort of adaptation were the last few years of his life, fighting this ugly disease but managing to be productive and actually producing some of the best work of his career. All the while having to duck and dodge the blood-thirsty British tabloids.Roger Ryan wrote:Who knows? Julien Temple worked with Ray Davies on ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS so it has that going for it.Drucker wrote:Biopic of the Kinks in the works, directed by Julien Temple.
No reason to think this will be good, right?
Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)
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Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)
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Re: New Films in Production, v.2
Sacha Baron Cohen on why he dropped out of the Freddie Mercury bio-pic, said he had David Fincher among others interested in directing. It seems like Brian May is more wrapped up in making a movie simply about the history of Queen, which honestly would be of no interest to me and lots others I'm sure. I really think the most compelling story that could be told was Mercury's final years, watching him fight against the deterioration AIDS was wreaking on his body by continuing to work non-stop, while dealing with the witch-hunt he was in the center of with regards to the British tabloid press.
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- Big Ben
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Re: Harvey Weinstein & Other Hollywood Abuse Accusations
Production halted on Bryan Singer's Freddy Mercury biopic due to "illness".
I can't imagine what it could possibly be? What production stopping illness could it be? "Opensecretitis"?
Anyway let's see what happens.
I can't imagine what it could possibly be? What production stopping illness could it be? "Opensecretitis"?
Anyway let's see what happens.
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Re: New Films in Production, v.2
Bryan Singer bowing out of Freddie Mercury/Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody due to "illness".
I'd normally not wish this on any production but I'm a little glad to see this project derailed. Mainly because of Singer's bad rep that no doubt is under some legal microscope now (if not soon), but also because this has felt snake-bitten from the beginning anyway. The internet has continually bemoaned the fact that Sacha Baron Cohen left it, but the real problem was at it's core. Namely that the surviving members (Brian May and Roger Taylor at least, doubt John Deacon has had any major part) have wanted to make it a full on, beginning-to-end story of the band.
I have felt that the real story to tell, that could be more compelling than anything else, is the last few years of Mercury's life. It's assumed that he just withered away and was never heard from again, when in fact he completed 3 albums' worth of material with the band. He threw himself into recording and shooting videos while his body was getting worse. All the while he and the band were being hounded by the British tabloids. I could understand if the surviving members would be iffy about using that period for an entire movie but in the right hands it could be something worth telling.
I'd normally not wish this on any production but I'm a little glad to see this project derailed. Mainly because of Singer's bad rep that no doubt is under some legal microscope now (if not soon), but also because this has felt snake-bitten from the beginning anyway. The internet has continually bemoaned the fact that Sacha Baron Cohen left it, but the real problem was at it's core. Namely that the surviving members (Brian May and Roger Taylor at least, doubt John Deacon has had any major part) have wanted to make it a full on, beginning-to-end story of the band.
I have felt that the real story to tell, that could be more compelling than anything else, is the last few years of Mercury's life. It's assumed that he just withered away and was never heard from again, when in fact he completed 3 albums' worth of material with the band. He threw himself into recording and shooting videos while his body was getting worse. All the while he and the band were being hounded by the British tabloids. I could understand if the surviving members would be iffy about using that period for an entire movie but in the right hands it could be something worth telling.
- mfunk9786
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Re: Harvey Weinstein & Other Hollywood Abuse Accusations
Ugh, didn't realize he was making this.Big Ben wrote:Production halted on Bryan Singer's Freddy Mercury biopic due to "illness".
I can't imagine what it could possibly be? What production stopping illness could it be? "Opensecretitis"?
Anyway let's see what happens.
Rami Malek is such a great fit for the role (I'd even say moreso than Sacha Baron Cohen, who shared an amazing anecdote on Howard Stern about Brian May saying to him that the film would have "Such a great 2nd act," upon which Cohen replied "Oh?" and May clarified, "Yeah, Freddie's death" - apparently this interaction is what made Cohen realize that the film was being crafted to be more about the band itself than Freddie Mercury). But good riddance, it'll make a great showcase for Malek, if it gets out of this ugly directorial situation alive.
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Re: Trailers for Upcoming Films
Malek has Freddie's speaking voice, and obviously the look down. So do the other guys playing the rest of the band, but I'm not certain the story being told with this feels right for this time and place.
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Re: Trailers for Upcoming Films
There's been loads of discussions and near-infighting on Twitter about how the film is purportedly hiding Freddie's queerness, and particularly white-washing the fact he died of AIDS by ending the film at their Live Aid performance. Bryan Fuller has been particularly outspoken about it since the trailer premiered online.
- knives
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Re: Trailers for Upcoming Films
Maybe watch the film first?
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Re: Trailers for Upcoming Films
I can at least understand the skepticism behind what is going on in this backlash but I'm beginning to feel that way myself. That said, it seems like this project was doomed from the time Sacha Baron Cohen dropped out. Not in as much about him, but his reasoning why which touches on some of these criticisms.
- Brian C
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Re: Trailers for Upcoming Films
If the film is upfront about Mercury’s orientation, but the marketing is not, that makes the criticisms fair game.knives wrote:Maybe watch the film first?
- hearthesilence
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Re: Trailers for Upcoming Films
Hah, this ties right back into our Rock Hall of Fame thread. From the Wyman article in NYMag (where he ranked Queen as the second worst inductee in the Hall of Fame, "surpassed" only by Bon Jovi):flyonthewall2983 wrote:There's been loads of discussions and near-infighting on Twitter about how the film is purportedly hiding Freddie's queerness, and particularly white-washing the fact he died of AIDS by ending the film at their Live Aid performance.
*To my understanding the concert was promoted as an AIDS benefit, so I have my doubts, but I believe mentions of homosexuality was definitely toned down or possibly silenced altogether.When popularity is factored in, Queen is the most overrated band in the history of pop music. This preposterous aggregation looked and sounded awful from the beginning, their music a pastiche of pastiches of things no one in the band were inclined to understand, all of it culminating in “We Will Rock You.” Queen haters love to say the song is appropriate for a Nuremburg rally, but you can also sort of see Leni Riefenstahl giving it a listen, cocking her head and saying, “Nein. A little too much.” Their popularity in the U.S. went down quickly after their heyday, but they remained unaccountable super-duper-stars in the U.K. and in time became the rock equivalent to the beloved ugly toy you had when you grew up. Docked 30 notches because of this: After the band’s closeted lead singer, Freddie Mercury, died of AIDS, the entire rock universe held a televised tribute show, broadcast on MTV, during which mentions of homosexuality and AIDS* were kept closely under wraps. The band (and everyone else at the show) let a new generation of vulnerable kids — and thousands of the unloved, dying alone on the streets — know that, yes, they should be ashamed of who they are. Thirty years earlier, the Lovin’ Spoonful, in one of the best songs about rock and roll, captured it this way: “Believe in the magic that can set you free.” By that wholly credible standard, Queen aren’t rock and roll at all and don’t belong in the hall of fame.
Last edited by hearthesilence on Wed May 16, 2018 5:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- knives
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Re: Trailers for Upcoming Films
Of the marketing, not the film. I doubt I'll like this (for the Baron Cohen reasons alluded to above), but that doesn't mean screaming homophobia of the film sight unseen. We literally only have one trailer that amounts to, "hey you like these songs, right" which makes sense for any biopic of a famous person.Brian C wrote:If the film is upfront about Mercury’s orientation, but the marketing is not, that makes the criticisms fair game.knives wrote:Maybe watch the film first?
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Re: Trailers for Upcoming Films
It was an AIDS benefit, with people like Elton John and Liza Minnelli performing, but it was largely just a musical sendoff featuring mostly straight rock musicians who likely didn't have either the inclination or the drive to make any meaningful statements beyond what Queen meant to them as musicians.hearthesilence wrote:*To my understanding the concert was promoted as an AIDS benefit, so I have my doubts, but I believe mentions of homosexuality was definitely toned down or possibly silenced altogether.
If you've seen any Queen documentaries you get the sense that during Freddie's final years that they were all being torn to shreds by the ghastly English tabloid press, once it became apparent that he was looking more and more frail in his public appearances. AIDS was bandied about by them as a buzzword and it drove the whole band into recording their albums The Miracle and Innuendo mostly in Switzerland.
I get the sense that the surviving members would rather have a movie about celebrating their musical accomplishments than delving into that side, for simply not wanting to revisit such a fraught and bleak time in their lives due to that kind of media scrutiny and invasion of privacy.
- hearthesilence
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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Dexter Fletcher, 2018)
I don't doubt they'll be more comfortable if they don't have to re-live those years, but it may very likely diminish this whole endeavor the way the same choices greatly diminished that benefit show. As a personal choice I'll have to respect it, but I can't say it's a great artistic choice.
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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Dexter Fletcher, 2018)
From the trailer, the dialogue feels reductive and at TV-biopic levels. Also, we all know that John Deacon never sang on Bohemian Rhapsody (or any Queen song) and it is less than 6 minutes. Just feels like they skimmed a Wikipedia page. The sexuality issue is further muddied by the fact that Freddie was his own animal and wasn't an activist for queer rights like folks assume (or wish). That just didn't interest him.
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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Dexter Fletcher, 2018)
That's the problem with idolatry and especially the kind of assigned martyrdom when someone so iconic dies so tragically. That the worshipers can't see the forest from the trees sometimes.
Part of the aforementioned infighting is that Mary Austin has a prominent supporting part in the film, stoking some of the fires from some people saying the film is trying to make him out as more hetero by giving the "character" a female love interest. I read that, as a bisexual man myself, as more radical LGBT people themselves whitewashing the issue that while he was publicly flamboyant and had numerous affairs with other men the person he had the deepest relationship with (to the point of leaving much of his fortune to) was a woman.
Part of the aforementioned infighting is that Mary Austin has a prominent supporting part in the film, stoking some of the fires from some people saying the film is trying to make him out as more hetero by giving the "character" a female love interest. I read that, as a bisexual man myself, as more radical LGBT people themselves whitewashing the issue that while he was publicly flamboyant and had numerous affairs with other men the person he had the deepest relationship with (to the point of leaving much of his fortune to) was a woman.
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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)
"personal issues"
- mfunk9786
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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)
Something tells me that Dexter Fletcher just saw the final cut and decided it'd be best to leave his name off. No one in this industry is so magnanimous to just say they don't want credit for their work, and the article clunkily goes out of its way to talk about how great the buzz is on the film. Suuuuure it is, guys.
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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)
Yes because Dexter Fletcher has a name to protect
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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)
That line about feeling bad for your wife gets worse every time I see this trailer at the movies.