Brian May has praised Rami Malek’s portrayal of the late Freddie Mercury after Bohemian Rhapsody stormed the global box office.
The biopic debuted to mixed reviews in October, although critics were near-unanimous in praising Malek’s portrayal of the legendary frontman.
Now, guitar legend May has doubled down on his praise for the Mr Robot star – and insists that he deserves to be part of the conversation as awards season rolls around.
“He’s incredible… without doubt he’ll be on the nominations list for an Oscar and well deserved as well,” May told the Press Association.
“He inhabited Freddie to the point where we even started to think of him as Freddie. Really remarkable.”
Describing the global reaction the film, May said: “We’ve lived with this project for nine years and it’s incredible to see it doing so well.
“It came out to s***ty reviews, as some of our work has before, but the public has embraced it magnificently. Everybody gave 200%, from the actors and technicians to the production team and hair and make up, everyone.”
Praising Gwilym Lee, who portrays himself in the film, May added: “You don’t get any lukewarm responses. The guy who plays me should be getting awards all over.”
Meanwhile, Malek himself admitted that he wanted to “delve deeper” into Mercury’s sexuality.
Speaking in a new interview with Who, Malek said that he “instinctually [wanted] to discover more” about Mercury as soon as he starting preparing for the role.
“There’s just an eloquence and elegance to him that you see when he’s on stage, and then you can [see] where all that was birthed from,” Malek said about what he learned about Mercury from reading about his early life. “I mean, not many artists are wearing an entire head-to-toe leather outfit, sipping a champagne flute and telling their audience to strip naked if they please. And he still comes off with this essence of royalty.”