Queen guitarist Brian May has shared footage of the moment that he first played the iconic guitar solo from Bohemian Rhapsody to the cast of the rock biopic.
The film, which starred Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury, defied a critical mauling to become the highest grossing music biopic of all time. Last week, it also triumphed at the Golden Globes.
Now, legendary guitarist May has shared a clip of the moment that he played the Bohemian Rhapsody solo for the first time in front of Gwilym Lee, who portrayed him in the film.
“When the BR team were filming this scene, I happened to be around, so Gwil invited me to have a go! How did I do, folks? Well, obviously not quite as good as Gwil! He’s a trained artist! We had too much fun!,” explained May on Instagram.
“I’d like to see the rest of what happened, captured by the film cameras which were still rolling … some day. In case you’re wondering why this solo doesn’t sound like the ‘out-take’ one in the film, I only had the idea to make that happen later, when we were polishing the soundtrack.”
After playing the solo, May is then seen standing next to Lee as he prepares to rehearse a scene that captured the recording of the track.
The latest behind-the-scenes peak comes after May said that the film’s triumph at the Golden Globes was a rebuke to its critics, after picking up a Best Actor award for Rami Malek and the Best Motion Picture for Drama award.
“The mistake that critics made was reviewing the trailer instead of reviewing the film,” May told Deadline. “They jumped to conclusions. Once people stake their claim, it’s hard for them to withdraw.”