The long-rumored Freddie Mercury biopic just lost its presumed star. Deadline Hollywood reports that Sacha Baron Cohen has dropped out of the movie, in which he was set to play the late Queen frontman. “The band wanted to make more of a PG movie about Queen while Cohen was counting on a gritty R-rated tell-all centered around the gifted gay singer,” wrote editor Nikki Finke.
Cohen signed on for the role in 2007 with Tom Hooper (Les Miserables,) set to direct, but the film kept getting delayed. Hooper is reportedly out as a result of this latest development. No replacements have been announced, though Robert De Niro is still producing. Considering Cohen’s resemblance to Mercury and the prospect of cleaning up the singer’s life for the kiddies, this project’s future is looking, ahem, mercurial at best.
