Now he's Under Pressure! Sacha Baron Cohen to play Freddie Mercury in biopic



Sacha Baron Cohen is swapping his Borat mankini for a flamboyant lycra catsuit.



The 38-year-old actor has signed on to play flamboyant frontman Freddie Mercury in a new movie about Queen.



The film, which is being scripted by Frost/Nixon writer Peter Morgan, will follow the band from its early years to its 1985 Live Aid performance - six years before Mercury's death.

Don't Stop Me Now: Sacha Baron Cohen has signed on to play Freddie Mercury in a new biopic



GK Films and Tribeca Productions have even reportedly secured the rights to use some of Queen's best-known songs including Bohemian Rhapsody, We Are The Champions, Another One Bites The Dust and We Will Rock You.

Filming is expected to begin next year.

GK Films boss Graham King revealed details of the new Queen movie in a prepared statement yesterday.



'Queen is one of the greatest rock bands of all time and a music brand all unto itself,' he said.



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'Freddie Mercury was an awe-inspiring performer, so with Sacha in the starring role coupled with Peter's screenplay and the support of Queen, we have the perfect combination to tell the real story behind their success.'



The new movie marks the first time Queen's surviving members - Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon - have licensed songs and music publishing rights for a film about the band.



The trio are expected to have their say in the big-screen project and have reportedly formed Queen Films to ensure they can be a part of the movie's production team.



They previously supplied their songs to We Will Rock You - the stage musical that has been running on London's West End for nine years.



It unclear whether Baron Cohen will sing Queen's songs in the new movie, or whether Mercury's original vocals will be used.



Producers still need to hire a director and come up with a name for the film.



The film will focus on a period of a few years leading up to what was arguably Queen's greatest moment: its performance at the Live Aid charity concert in 1985, when the band mesmerized London's Wembley Stadium and a worldwide TV audience with such hits as "We Will Rock You" and "Radio Ga Ga."

The band continued touring and recording even as Mercury's health deteriorated. A day after finally admitting he had AIDS, Mercury succumbed to the disease in 1991, at age 45.



Born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar and educated in India, Mercury co-founded Queen in 1971 with May, Taylor and Deacon.



The mustachioed and buff Mercury was never shy about his camp sensibilities even as the band drew part of its musical inspiration from the progressive and hard rock genres.

Queen hit the big time in 1975 with its fourth album, A Night at the Opera, which included the Mercury-composed anthem Bohemian Rhapsody.



Mercury also wrote such Queen hits as Crazy Little Thing Called Love and We are the Champions.



Off stage, Mercury lived a very private life, rarely consenting to interviews and never discussing his homosexuality.



Baron Cohen rose to fame in his envelope-pushing roles as Ali G, a bumbling Kazakhstan reporter in Borat and as a fashionista in Bruno.







