- NEWS
- COMPETITION
- DIRECTORY
Rami Malek followed in Eddie Redmayne's shoes to prepare for his role as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody by working with a movement coach.
The Mr. Robot star didn't have to work with a choreographer to master the late Queen frontman's signature moves because was able to replicate his mannerisms by using a coach like the one Redmayne called on while preparing to play wheelchair-bound physicist Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything.
"I didn't need a choreographer, because Eddie Redmayne used something called a movement coach doing The Theory of Everything," Rami tells the New York Post's Page Six. "So day in, day out was like (being) back at acting school. Four hours of movement, two of piano, two singing, then home watching archival footage and dancing alone in my flat."
"Trying to be as unpredictable and spontaneous as Freddie Mercury was, I never let the camera know where I was going," he continues. "I felt everyone could play catch-up to this character's moves. Jumping into someone else's light, a gorgeous thing to do, gives you an adrenaline rush. No one will ever be like him. I hope I got close."
Malek's efforts paid off - he has landed a string of nominations for top awards including the Golden Globes and Critics' Choice Awards, but he recently revealed he told the film's producers he wasn't ready to take on the role when the shoot began.
"I said, 'Listen, I'm not a singer. I don't play the piano. I move in a very interesting way on a dancefloor - I don't know if I'd call it rhythm'," he told Deadline. "I just said, 'If I have the time, I can get there. If you help me out with the things I need'. Lessons to sing, the piano lessons, a movement coach, a dialect coach."