May 07, 2007

Sacha Baron Cohen Won't Play Freddie Mercury In Queen Biopic

By Shawn Adler (MTV.com)

In Hollywood, casting rumors float around every day. Well, "Another One Bites the Dust."

Reports that Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen will play legendary Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in a musical biopic are "absolutely untrue," the actor's publicist told MTV News.

An unidentified source told Britain's Daily Mirror that "filmmakers are working flat out to get the best possible script. Sacha loves the idea he can get away with playing Freddie after modeling Borat's look on him."

"Pure hokum," the publicist said.

Baron Cohen rose to fame as the racy (and racist) faux reporter Borat in last year's surprise comedy hit Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. The flick won Baron Cohen a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical.

The rumor might have surfaced because the actor can actually sing well. His next project is Tim Burton's musical Sweeney Todd, alongside Johnny Depp.

Coincidentally enough, it is Depp who has long been considered the leading candidate to play Mercury in a film adaptation of the late singer's life. The renowned songwriter of international hits like "Bohemian Rhapsody," "We Are the Champions" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," Mercury died in 1991 from complications due to AIDS.