David Fincher: Sacha Baron Cohen looked ‘Spectacular’ as Freddie Mercury

One of Bohemian Rhapsody's earlier directors, David Fincher, has declared that Sacha Baron Cohen would have been "spectacular" as Freddie Mercury.

Although Baron Cohen was cast to play the Queen frontman in the biopic, he was replaced by Rami Malek following creative differences with producers, years before the movie entered production.

Now Fincher, who at one stage was tapped to direct the feature before Bryan Singer eventually took up the helm, has heaped praise on the Borat star during a recent episode of The Director’s Cut podcast with fellow filmmaker Aaron Sorkin.

“He’s so deft and specific,” Fincher remarked of Baron Cohen’s performance in Sorkin's Trial of the Chicago 7.
“He’s such an intellect about the things he’s doing. He’s so thoughtful. He’s so quiet and thoughtful and chooses his words so specifically,” he went on.

Fincher then lamented that Sorkin had never seen Baron Cohen's test photos for Bohemian Rhapsody, commenting: "dude, you have to see…these photos are spectacular.”

In 2018, another would-be director of Bohemian Rhapsody, Stephen Frears, told Vulture that Baron Cohen had wanted to make “a very outrageous film” which was “a gritty R-rated tell-all”, a creative avenue that Queen musicians Brian May and Roger Taylor expressed reservations over.

Malek received, among other accolades, an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody.