'Bohemian Rhapsody' Movie Trailer Slammed by Bryan Fuller
The first trailer for the highly-anticipated Queen/Freddie Mercury biopic "Bohemian Rhapsody" has just been released, but it already received a backlash for "hetwashing" the identity of the band's legendary frontman.
On Twitter, "American Gods" writer-producer Bryan Fuller posted his disappointment over the alleged deliberate omission of Mercury's bisexuality and battle with AIDS on the film as seen on its trailer.
In one of his posts, Fuller noted that the trailer showed Mercury's rampant flirting with different women but none were featured about his relationship with men.
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He also shared a screenshot of the film's synopsis in another post, where the description notes from the 20th Century Fox mentioned that the singer faced "a life-threatening illness." However, it did not specify that he suffered from HIV or AIDS which he admitted one day before he passed away in 1991 at the age of 45.
He also told one of his followers that the filmmakers do not respect the singer's real identity in the movie.
However, a report from Quartzy claimed that the film was not actually intended to be a Freddie Mercury biopic since surviving bandmates and executive producers Brian May and Roger Taylor wanted it to tell the story of Queen, including the band's evolution until their legendary Live Aid performance back in 1985. Because of this, the movie will not cover all aspects of Mercury's life.
This is not the first time that the film had been involved in various controversies. In 2010, "Borat" star Sasha Baron Cohen was cast to portray the role of Mercury in the movie. Then, May revealed in 2013 that the comedian vacated his post.
However, Cohen said in an interview with Howard Stern why he opted to pull out from the film. He said that a member of the band who he refused to name said that an amazing thing will happen in the middle of the film. When he asked for details, the band member said that it will be the part where Mercury dies. The band member also said that the second part of the film will feature how the band succeeded even after the death of their vocalist.
However, Cohen revealed that he was not happy with the plans for the movie. "I said, 'Listen, not one person is going to a movie where the lead character dies from AIDS and then you carry on to see how the band carries on,'" Cohen stated in the interview that was reported by Independent.
Another report claimed that Cohen wanted to make the film more adult oriented, but the band wanted it to have a more family-friendly approach.
The film also lost its first director Bryan Singer in December 2017 due to his alleged absences on the set and several clashes from the cast and crew. This led to the hiring of "Band of Brothers" director Dexter Fletcher to finish the film.
The movie features Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury, Lucy Boynton as Mercury's lifelong companion Mary Austin, Gwilym Lee as Brian May, Ben Hardy as Roger Taylor, Joseph Mazzello as John Deacon, Aidan Gillen as Josh Reid, Tom Hollander as Jim Beach, as well as Aaron McCusker as Mercury's boyfriend Jim Hutton.
"Bohemian Rhapsody" will be released on Nov. 2.
