Sacha Baron Cohen to play Freddie Mercury

Ali G and Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen is to play Freddie Mercury in a film about Queen, the rock band's guitarist Brian May has confirmed.

"We have Sacha Baron Cohen, which will probably be a shock to a lot of people, but he's been talking with us for a long time," May told the HARDtalk show.
Frost/Nixon scribe Peter Morgan is writing the screenplay, he added.
The film, which will focus on the period leading up to Live Aid in 1985, will begin shooting next year.
"I think we'll try and keep ourselves out of it as much as we can," May said.
Baron Cohen had been "on this project since we started talking about it seriously with Peter Morgan a couple of years ago," he added.
May and Queen drummer Roger Taylor will oversee music featured in the film, which will include songs by the band and by Mercury as a solo performer.