Ben Hardy has been cast in the upcoming Freddie Mercury biopic (Picture: Getty)

He made his name selling fruit and veg in Walford but now EastEnders star Ben Hardy is saying Don’t Stop Me Now, as he’s reportedly been cast in a new musical about Queen.

Ben Hardy on Black Mirror, the stigma of EastEnders and a return to X-Men

This isn’t the first big screen appearance for the former soap actor, who previously played market trader Peter Beale in the BBC One soap.

He has also starred in Hollywood blockbuster X-Men: Apocalypse – and now Bryan Singer, who directed that movie, apparently wants him on board again for his new project called Bohemian Rhapsody.

Ben Hardy played Peter Beale in EastEnders (Picture: BBC)

Hardy will star alongside American actor Rami Malek in the biopic about iconic singer Freddie Mercury, playing drummer Roger Taylor after the actor ‘caught the eye’ of producers.




‘Bosses decided he was the perfect man for the job and signed him up’, a source told The Sun.

Rami Malek (Picture: Getty)

They added: ‘He’s got plenty of work to do before filming starts – he’s even started taking drumming lessons to get up to scratch.’

The movie will chart the journey of the famous band which led to their momentous appearance at the Live Aid concert in 1985.

A 1977 photo of Queen – Roger Taylor, Freddie Mercury, Brian May and John Deacon (Picture: Richard E. Aaron/Redferns)

It’s not all glitz and glamour though, as Hardy recently admitted he found the transition into making Hollywood movies underwhelming.

‘Hollywood’s not as glamorous as I thought, it’s kind of grungy…It’s not too much of a leap from EastEnders in that sense,’ he said.

Roger Taylor pictured attending Jimmy Kimmel Live in June this year (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)

Elsewhere, bosses have taken a hit as actor Sacha Baron Cohen pulled out of the movie following an alleged spat with some of the original band members of Queen.

Sacha felt they were making the film too ‘PG’, telling Howard Stern on his show last year: ‘A member of the band—I won’t say who—said, “You know, this is such a great movie because it’s got such an amazing thing that happens in the middle of the movie.”

‘And I go, “What happens in the middle of the movie?” He goes, “You know, Freddie dies.”…I go, “What happens in the second half of the movie?” He goes, “We see how the band carries on from strength to strength.”

‘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”.’

The actors playing the final two members of the band – guitarist Brian May and bass player John Deacon – are yet to be cast.

MORE: Great success: Sacha Baron Cohen WILL play Freddie Mercury in new Queen biopic

MORE: The Freddie Mercury biopic may finally have found its Freddie

Advertisement Advertisement