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Taken from Daily Mail Online (Apr 09, 2016)
Queen’s Brian May slams Sacha Baron Cohen’s over Freddie Mercury biopic
'It’s obvious that it wasn’t going to work... It wouldn’t suspend your disbelief’: Brian May on Sacha Baron Cohen's claims over Freddie Mercury biopic
by Adrian Deevoy For Event Magazine
‘Freddie’s (Mercury) still an inspiration. He knew no boundaries. We’ve got very used to the fact that Freddie’s with us in everything that we do. That wicked smile is always there lurking in the background,' said Brian May |
One by one Queen’s legendary axe man buries them: Sacha Baron Cohen? ‘He’s an a***.’ David Cameron? ‘Shocking, awful.’ And Donald Trump? ‘I’d do anything to stop him.’ And you thought Brian May was a gentle badger fancier! Plug yourself in for an electric interview
 
Sacha Baron Cohen (pictured left), famous for his comedy roles as Ali G, Borat and Bruno, had been in talks with May and Roger Taylor to play the part of Freddie Mercury (right) in a long-awaited biopic |
There are stirrings upstairs at Brian May’s Arts and Crafts house, set in a secluded pocket of Surrey’s leafy ‘rockbroker belt’.
The guitarist, scientist, artist and animal welfare activist descends into the kitchen for a late, light lunch declaring that he’s ready to shoot the breeze.
The famous curls, no longer a luxuriant Louis XIV mane, more a manageable mullet, are the colour of sober steel. Stoopingly tall and slim at 68, he pads about the kitchen in crisply ironed, loose-linen duds and large white trainers, calmly collecting his thoughts.
There is no sign of his wife, Anita Dobson, 66. The Stepney-born actress, who will forever be Angie Watts in the hearts of EastEnders fans, stays at the couple’s elegant Kensington townhouse during the week.
But the master musician’s gentle, vicar-ish demeanour belies an intensity and intransigence on most matters that will arise on this spring afternoon.
Gazing occasionally across the lawn to his observatory in the grounds beyond, the busy polymath will discuss his complex relationship with the Royals, David Cameron, Freddie Mercury, Donald Trump – and exactly how likely it is that an asteroid will hit the Earth.
But first, he has an asteroid of his own, and it is heading for the actor Sacha Baron Cohen. Outside, a startled lark takes flight.
Queen in 1976, from left: Brian, Roger Taylor, John Deacon and Freddie Mercury |
‘Sacha became an a***,’ says May, relishing the resolutely British insult.
Cohen, famous for his comedy roles as Ali G, Borat and Bruno, had been in talks with May and Roger Taylor to play the part of Freddie Mercury in a long-awaited biopic, but the plans fell apart and then, unforgivably in May’s mind, the actor spoke to the press.
‘We had some nice times with Sacha (Baron Cohen) kicking around ideas but he went off and told untruths about what happened,’ May scowls on plans for him (Cohen) to play Freddy Mercury in a long-awaited biopic. The star recently played the lead role in Grimsby, a part which also garnered criticism.
Cohen claimed that Queen had wanted to sugar-coat the story of Mercury, who died of complications connected with Aids in 1991, and turn the script into the more cuddly tale of a rock band surviving against all odds.
‘Why would he go away and say that we didn’t want to make a gritty film?’ demands May angrily.
‘Are we the kind of people who have ever ducked from the truth? I don’t think so.
‘We decided he wasn’t right for the role for very good reasons, which will become apparent if you watch what he’s done recently.
'It’s obvious that it wasn’t going to work, him playing Freddie. It wouldn’t suspend your disbelief. We’re hoping Ben Whishaw will do it. He’s fabulous – a real actor.’
Ouch. I ask who will be playing Brian May in the movie.
‘We don’t know yet,’ he grimaces. ‘It’s a tough one. We’ll have a director – although we still haven’t signed one up – and then hopefully we can step back and just look after the music side of it.
'We have arrived at a great storyline. But the film’s not going out till it’s right.’
It is this attention to detail that has equipped May to make some of the most memorable rock music of all time.
His vast, marauding guitar riffs and eloquent, keening solos on Killer Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody, We Are The Champions, We Will Rock You and Radio Ga Ga are the soundtrack to many of our lives. They have enjoyed six UK No 1 singles and are estimated to have sold 300 million albums worldwide.
Such super-galactic sales have generated serious money; May is estimated to be worth £85 million.
‘They used to ask Freddie if he liked having money,’ he says, settling into an armchair.
‘And Freddie’d say, “Yes darling, because it means that people like what I do.”’
The drawing room is a shrine to the bygone age of stereo photography.
May has been entranced by the 3D universe since discovering a stereoscopic hippopotamus in his Weetabix box as a child. He retains a schoolboy-like enthusiasm for the subject and is not alone.
Brian May and Freddie Mercury on stage in 1980. Queenenjoyed six UK No 1 singles and are estimated to have sold 300 million albums worldwide |
‘I worked with David Attenborough on a 3D project and we sat in this very room and he said, “Oh, so you collect stereo cards? Me too, shall we do some swaps?” Swaps! It turned out he was a fanatic about stereo cards too.’
Leather-bound 3D card collections, musty camera manuals and antique wooden viewers vie for space with two life-sized, crinoline-encased mannequins standing to eerie attention either side of the fireplace.
I wonder if May has been tempted to try one on.
‘Well, as one of the participants in the I Want To Break Free video you know how much we love dressing up in women’s clothes,’ he confesses.
‘Loads of people said Roger was rather attractive in that video. He had lots of propositions, as I remember.’
May has taken stereo snaps of Queen since 1970 and is in the process of collating the shots for a forthcoming photographic book, Queen In 3D.
‘I always had a camera with me so I ended up with hundreds of images. Rehearsal stuff, just-off-stage shots, visiting radio stations in private planes, Japanese fans. Incredible stuff.
‘3D can enhance an image enormously, so you might have an image of Freddie putting on his make-up that might not be too exciting as a flat photo but in stereo... Wow, you feel like you could touch him.’
‘The images trigger such vivid memories,’ says May. ‘It’s become my diary – a Brian’s-eye view of what happened. And I got a little tearful, yes.’
But May speaks about Mercury with a spiritual joyfulness.
Brian May and Freddie Mercury on stage in 1982.‘They used to ask Freddie if he liked having money. And Freddie’d say, “Yes darling, because it means that people like what I do”’ he said |
‘Freddie loved photographs,’ he says. ‘I remember when the first Polaroid cameras came out, he just got through film after film. He would take Polaroids of all his mates and then give them the camera. “Oh darling, take it, you must have it!”
‘Freddie’s still an inspiration. He knew no boundaries.
‘We’ve got very used to the fact that Freddie’s with us in everything that we do. That wicked smile is always there lurking in the background. I just wish we’d shot a 3D movie of Freddie,’ he says, snapping his fingers regretfully.
‘He was made for the medium.’
Virtual Reality is the modern progeny of stereoscopy, eliciting the same awestruck response as 3D cards would have in those top-hatted times.
‘Victorians wanted to escape into the 3D world and now we are seeing evidence of people wanting to escape into the VR world,’ May opines.
‘I’ve felt that pull myself. I was allowed to see something very secret at Nasa but I came out of it feeling sad, like I wanted to be back in there. It was such a powerful experience.
'JG Ballard wrote about escaping into a virtual world and never coming back. You can understand people wanting to do that with the mess politicians have made of the real world.’
Politics, animal and human, consume much of May’s time. The briefest glance at his blog, Brian’s Soapbox, confirms as much.
‘Don’t get me started on the Tories,’ he warns. ‘Seriously, we’ll be here all day.
'David Cameron used one of our songs [One Vision] in his electioneering, to motivate the team. I certainly didn’t give permission for that.
'Don’t put me down as anti-Tory but you can put me down as anti-Cameron. I think we’re in a shocking, awful, awful, awful state, and it’s getting worse.’
Much of May’s misery can be attributed to the animal rights he so ferociously defends. A straight, possibly heretical, question then: would he like to have a conversation with Princes William and Harry about blood sports?
'Don’t put me down as anti-Tory but you can put me down as anti-Cameron. I think we’re in a shocking, awful, awful, awful state, and it’s getting worse,' said Brian May (pictured in 2005) |
‘This could lead me into a difficult situation,’ he frets. ‘But the answer is yes. I would love to have a conversation.
‘I’d like to say I’m a friend of Prince Charles,’ adds May. ‘He’s been very good to me.
'I have had lots of conversations with him but the occasion was never quite right to get into fox-hunting.’
May’s relationship with the Royal Family is an intriguing one. Friend and confidant on one hand, yet morally opposed to certain of their pastimes. Matters were further confused when he was appointed a CBE in 2005 for his services to the music industry and charity work.
‘The decisions that are made as to who gets honoured and who doesn’t,’ he begins, then checks himself as to whether or not he should be saying this.
‘You really wonder. Because you look at it and think, “What does this mean? Does this mean anything at all?”
‘The funny thing is that people would expect it would open doors for you but it doesn’t. It doesn’t do anything.
'You don’t get invited to different parties, you don’t get to sit on any important panels, you don’t get to sit in the House of Lords. Nothing. It’s just something you can wear on occasions and it makes you feel good, which is nice.
‘I do feel honoured, and of course you feel a certain pride, but I’m much more aware now of what the Government means and what the monarchy means.’
May had a fascinating insight into the monarchy’s MO when he met the Queen at Music Day At The Palace, an event to celebrate British musicianship in 2005, having previously played an electrifying rendition of the national anthem on the roof of the building, blasting off the 2002 Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
‘I was there to be honoured with Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. The four of us were standing and the Queen was ushered in.
'She’s supposed to be briefed for everything but she was standing two feet away from me and obviously hadn’t had the briefing – she looked really nonplussed.
‘Protocol says you’re not supposed to open the conversation, but she obviously wasn’t going to speak so I said, “Lovely to meet you, Ma’am. I’m the chap who stood and played on your roof,’ and she said, “Oh it was you, was it?”’
Brian May withwife, Anita Dobson, 66. The Stepney-born actress will forever be Angie Watts in the hearts of EastEnders fans |
Although his encounter with the official home owner eventually went well, May recollects standing astride the Palace edifice with a small shudder.
‘I was petrified. If I made a fool of myself in front of a billion people live, I would probably have thrown myself off,’ he winces.
It is perhaps interesting to note that May, who plays guitar with an old sixpence rather than a conventional plectrum, might have been grasping an imprint of the Queen’s head as he soloed.
‘That’s a connection I hadn’t thought of,’ he laughs. ‘Unless it was a pre-1953 sixpence – which it might have been – so possibly George VI. The best ones are 1947, the year I was born.’
The softly spoken yet hotly contentious entertainer has one final fire he’d like to put out before our day winds down. Adele recently requested that Donald Trump refrain from using her music in his presidential campaign.
‘It’s happened to us that people we disapprove of start using our stuff,’ May nods.
Could he stop Trump from using Queen’s anthems?
‘I would love to stop him,’ sighs May. ‘I’d love to stop him any way I can. Give him enough rope and he’ll probably hang himself – let’s hope.’
Time is moving on. I ask May, as an astrophysicist, what Earth’s chances are of being hit by an asteroid.
‘It’s the right question to ask,’ he begins encouragingly. ‘But it’s not easy to answer because we don’t know everything that’s out there.’
The good doctor pauses for an eon while considering his plan, should word of an imminent planetary strike come over the wire.
‘I won’t be around here too much longer anyway,’ May decides, then stares mystically out at the still English skies.
‘It’s our grandchildren we have to think about.’
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