Bohemian Rhapsody, the biopic of Freddie Mercury and Queen released to somewhat mixed reviews, but has been a smash at the box office. Rami Malek is being touted for his incredible portrayal of Mercury, and may even garner some awards, but Malek initially wasn’t intended to play Mercury. That honor goes to none other than Sacha Baron Cohen. Yes, you heard that right, Borat. Borat was supposed to play Freddie Mercury.
So, what happened? Well, we get to hear it from the drummer for Queen, Roger Taylor, himself:
In Cohen’s defense, he has a point. He explained a bit of his side of the story to Howard Stern a couple of years back: