Ben Whishaw Latest Name Tossed Around For The Freddie Mercury Biopic

Finding the right person to play legendary Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in a biopic about this life is no easy task, but many people figured that the once-attached Sacha Baron Cohen was an inspired choice. Not only could he look like Mercury, Cohen easily possessed the skills to take on the singer’s bigger-than-life personality. But the members of Queen thought differently, clashing with Cohen, with drummer Roger Taylor later admitting, “We didn’t want it to be a joke.” But who will step in? That’s still being determined.

It was a few weeks back that Dominic Cooper‘s name was tossed around, while today brings word that Ben Whishaw is apparently in the mix. Taylor told “The One Show” that he had someone with the initials BW in mind for the part, and when pressed he admitted it was Whishaw, saying, “Well, we hope so.” Not much else to go on there, but it seems Queen are still rationalizing their decision to drop Cohen from the project.

“What led us to that conclusion was the last three movies that [Baron Cohen has] made – ‘The Dictator,’ ‘Les Miserables‘ and ‘Hugo‘ – in which he makes outstanding performances, but they’re very much Sacha Baron Cohen performances. And we thought there has to be no distraction in the Freddie movie,” Brian May told Classic Rock magazine. “You have to really suspend that disbelief – the man who plays Freddie, you have to really believe is Freddie. And we didn’t that could really happen with Sacha.”

So, to Whishaw or not to Whishaw is the current question. Thoughts? [via The Guardian]