Ever since Sacha Baron Cohen left the long in development Freddie Mercury biopic, producers have been scrambling for a replacement. And if "The Daily Star" is to be believed (and believe me that's a BIG if) the boys in the back office have their sites set on everyone's favorite Hogwarts resident, Mr. Daniel Radcliffe. That's right. Producers want the lead singer of "Queen" to be portrayed by Harry Potter.
Good Lord.
This is quite possibly one of the worst casting decisions of all time, right up there with David Bowie as Pontius Pilate in The Last Temptation of Christ and Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane in Superman Returns. Listen I have the utmost respect for Radcliffe's acting ability and I'm pleased to see he's branching out with movies like The Woman In Black and his upcoming films Kill Your Darlings and Horns. But just because you can sing and possess acting ability doesn't mean you should play a certain role. Radcliffe is the last person I'd pick to play arguably the greatest frontman of all time. He doesn't look like Freddie Mercury and I haven't seen anything in Radcliffe's past that would lead me to believe he could pull off a role like this.
If this turns out to be true I'll be extremely disappointed. "Queen" is one of my all-time favorite bands and it's too bad things didn't work out with Cohen as I thought he was perfect for the role. To make matters worse, Cohen and the producers split over "creative differences," specifically the studio's unwillingness to show the more flamboyant side of Mercury's life. Say what??? If you look up the word "flamboyant" in the dictionary you'll find a picture of Freddie Mercury next to it. If the studio really wants to convey a sense of Mercury's life, exploring his flamboyant side is essential. Typically I'm not one to nitpick over ratings but if this film isn't a hard "R" they are wasting my time.
Kill Your Darlings opens October 18th.
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