The Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, set to premiere on November 2, has been a source of contention for Queen fans ever since its conception nearly eight years ago. Throughout the process, the cast has changed (Sasha Baron Cohen was originally slated to portray Mercury before Rami Malek took over), director Bryan Singer was fired, and there have been concerns about whether the film will accurately portray Mercury's sexuality and death from AIDS.
The latter concerns arose after Fox released the film's first official trailer, which focused primarily on the band's rise to global fame but seemed to gloss over the illness that took Mercury's life. (Though, it did appear to briefly address the rumors that circulated around his bisexuality.) In a recent interview with UK's Attitude magazine, Malek dismissed fan hysteria as "absurd," and assured readers that the film will, indeed, address all of the aspects that made Mercury the powerful force that he was.
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"It's a shame that people are making remarks after a minute teaser where you just wanna see the music," he told Attitude. "It's difficult. First, let me say that I don't think the film shies away from his sexuality or his all-consuming disease, which is obviously AIDS. I don't know how you could avoid any of that, or if anyone would ever want to. It's a bit absurd that anyone's judging this from a minute trailer."
Malek continued to state that the storyline "ultimately is very sad by also empowering in a way."
"It shows you just how resilient human beings can be and how much we rely on the strength of our friends and family to get us through tough times," he added. "This pandemic is still very much a horrific threat to so many people in the world. It exists as a reality for so many that I think it would be a shame not to address it."
For now, fans will just have to wait to see if Malek's claims are part of the real life or if they're just fantasy.