Music biopics can be a tricky business, riddled with casting and tone issues. Get it right, and you've got a film as critically and commercially successful as Walk The Line, in which Joaquin Pheonix played Johnny Cash opposite Reese Witherspoon as June Carter. But, as Zoe Saldana discovered after taking on Nina Simone for Nina last year, the results can be genuinely offensive if it all goes horribly wrong.

Perhaps this is why the making of Bohemian Rhapsody, a film that aims to retell 15 years of Freddie Mercury's life through the prism of his rise to fame with Queen, was one of the most painful cinematic ventures of the decade. Since 2008, it has suffered from two changes in writer, three different lead actors and two disbanded directors – most recently, X Men director Bryan Singer, who was fired from the production in December. And yet, in spite of all this – and a critical backlash – the film has gone on to become one of the least likely awards hits of the year.

Here's the rocky trajectory of 2018's most surprising cinematic success story:

2008

Talks begin between Queen guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor and The Queen screenwriter Peter Morgan. Sacha Baron Cohen, known for his portrayals of comedy characters Borat and Ali G, is also involved, with a view to playing Mercury himself.