Speculation continues to grow regarding the upcoming Freddie Mercury biopic that Sacha Baron Cohen has been attached to for quite some time. The film, which will follow Queen from their early years to their Live Aid performance in 1985, is set up over at Sony and GK Films and development has been slow to say the least. Though Stephen Frears was thought to be close to helming the project at one point, it looks like the movie could wind up in someone else’s hands instead.
Deadline reports that Tom Hooper may be a strong possibility to direct the film. There’s no formal offer on the table for Hooper at the moment so this does not appear to be anything more than early chatting at best, but the pairing does make sense. Hooper directed Cohen in “Les Miserables” and given Hooper’s box office and awards success with his last two films, it certainly could be a direction that Sony and GK Films may want to take. And of course, Hooper showed he could tackle both music and drama with ease.
Hopefully, we’ll hear something more official regarding the biopic. Queen guitarist Brian May said last fall that the film was scheduled to shoot this spring and that it would be ready for release in early 2014. Well, it’s spring now, so what’s the hold up? The show must go on! And hopefully soon.