60 Fun Facts About Bohemian Rhapsody

Who plays Freddie Mercury?

Producers spotted him in Mr. Robot; he had to record a test at Abbey Road for Queen's approval before he got the part.

Which two events bookend the film's story?

The first actor attached had wanted the story to run past Mercury's death, one of the disagreements that saw him leave.

What is Freddie's job when the film opens?

In real life he ran a stall at Kensington Market with Roger Taylor, which the film skips.

What was the name of the band Freddie joins, which becomes Queen?

Its departing singer and bassist Tim Staffell leaves to join Humpy Bong; in reality Freddie already knew Staffell from art college.

Where does Mary Austin work when Freddie meets her?

In reality she had briefly dated Brian May and did not meet Freddie until he was already in the band.

What does Freddie sell to pay for the band's first album?

The demos reach an EMI A&R man through engineer Roy Thomas Baker.

Which TV appearance gives the band their first hit in the film?

A famous DJ shows up later, agreeing to premiere the six-minute single on his radio show.

Which fictional EMI executive refuses to release "Bohemian Rhapsody" as a single?

The character is loosely based on EMI's Roy Featherstone, who was in fact a fan of the band.

Which Wayne's World star plays the record executive who hates the title song?

The casting is a wink at the film that made the song a hit again in 1992.

Which radio DJ helps Freddie get the song on air?

This part is true: Everett's airplay created the demand that made EMI release the single.

Which 1975 album is being recorded when the band falls out with EMI?

It was Queen's fourth studio album; the film shows John Deacon singing on the overdubs, which he did not.

Who plays Mary Austin?

Bryce Dallas Howard, Maria Bello, Ashley Johnson and violinist Lindsey Stirling were also considered.

Who plays Paul Prenter, Freddie's manipulative personal manager?

Prenter's family dispute the film's account, saying he and Mercury were never a couple.

Which Game of Thrones actor plays John Reid, Queen's manager?

In the film Freddie fires him after a row about going solo; in reality the parting in 1978 was amicable and mutual.

Who plays Jim 'Miami' Beach, the lawyer who takes over management?

Hollander briefly quit the film over problems with the director before being talked back.

Who plays Brian May?

Lee announced the end of filming on social media in January 2018.

Which Jurassic Park child star plays bassist John Deacon?

Deacon's real son Luke has a cameo as a student in the pub where Smile plays.

Who plays drummer Roger Taylor?

Johnny Flynn had been reported for the part back in 2015, during the project's long limbo.

Freddie signs a solo deal worth how much with CBS Records in the film?

He records Mr. Bad Guy in Munich; in reality his solo album was not a source of band resentment.

Which music video, with the band in drag, precedes Freddie's departure in the film?

The soap-opera parody video was famously banned by MTV in the United States.

What Zoroastrian maxim of his father's does Freddie finally embrace?

Mercury's family have said he was privately proud of his Parsi heritage, contrary to the film's tension.

Where was the Live Aid sequence filmed?

About a hundred extras were scanned in 360 degrees and duplicated digitally to fill the stadium.

Which two songs from Queen's real Live Aid set were cut from the film's version?

The home release includes an extended version of the sequence.

Who was originally announced to play Mercury when the film was revealed in 2010?

He reportedly wanted a gritty R-rated tell-all; the band wanted PG, and worried Ali G and Borat would be a distraction.

Which actor was linked to the Mercury role after Baron Cohen left, before dropping out in 2015?

He said in 2014 that the film had scripting problems and was not progressing well.

Who is credited as the film's director?

Directors Guild rules allow one credit, and Singer had hired the cast and shot most of the film before he was fired.

Who finished the film after the original director was fired in December 2017?

Fletcher had been the project's director years earlier and took an executive producer credit.

Who stepped in to direct during Singer's absences before the firing?

Singer had not returned to set after Thanksgiving week and was let go with about two weeks of shooting left.

Roughly how much of principal photography did Fletcher say was complete when he took over?

'I was looking at two complete acts in a good film, and I had to not let it down,' he said.

Whose vocals were used to fill in for Malek alongside Freddie Mercury's own recordings?

The Canadian singer won the Queen Extravaganza tour auditions; Malek did sing some parts himself.

Footage of which performer was studied to help Malek copy Mercury's stage moves?

Minnelli was an inspiration for Mercury himself; Malek also worked with a movement coach and learned to speak with prosthetic teeth.

Which Queen frontman cameos as a truck driver?

He is the trucker Freddie catches eye contact with at a roadside stop on the American tour.

Where did the film hold its world premiere?

It opened in Britain the next day and in the United States on 2 November 2018.

Roughly how much did Bohemian Rhapsody gross worldwide?

On a budget of about $52 million, it was the highest-grossing biopic ever until Oppenheimer.

Which country was the film's largest market outside North America?

It became the top film of 2018 there and the biggest IMAX release in Japanese history; South Korea was second.

Which record did it hold until Oppenheimer in 2023?

It had passed Straight Outta Compton to become the biggest musical biopic on 11 November 2018.

How many Academy Awards did the film win, the most of any film that night?

Best Actor, Film Editing, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing; it lost Best Picture.

Which Best Picture winner beat Bohemian Rhapsody at the 2019 Oscars?

Bohemian Rhapsody had already taken the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and lost the big one to a road-trip drama.

Which Oscar win was widely mocked online because of a choppy scene where the band first meets John Reid?

Editor John Ottman blamed the stitching-together of footage shot by two directors and notes from producers and test screenings.

Which awards body withdrew the film's nomination after renewed allegations against its credited director?

BAFTA kept the nomination for Best British Film but struck Singer's name from it.

How accurate did the blog Information Is Beautiful judge the film to be against real events?

It called the film 'a fairly truthful account represented in a massively compressed and edited timeline'.

Which song does the film show being written in 1980, three years later than it really was?

"Fat Bottomed Girls" is also played on a 1974 tour despite being written in 1978.

When was Mercury actually diagnosed with HIV, contrary to the film's pre-Live Aid timeline?

The Spectator called the film's rearrangement 'the most callous' of its liberties; Roger Taylor said the band learned only in early 1989.

Where did the real Jim Hutton work when he met Mercury, rather than waiting tables at a party?

They met at a nightclub in 1983, two years later than the film's version.

Where did the real Rock in Rio concert shown in the film take place in the timeline?

The live "Love of My Life" on the soundtrack comes from that 1985 Rio show and is labelled as such.

Which Queen archivist worked daily with the production to make every scene as true to life as possible?

Brian May and Roger Taylor were also credited as consultants and music producers.

How long is the 'Bohemian Rhapsody' single, a running time executives said was too long for radio?

Mercury refused to cut it, and DJ Kenny Everett's teasing airplay proved the doubters wrong.

What did 'Weird Al' Yankovic call his 1993 oompah-band rearrangement of the entire song?

It appears on his album Alapalooza, one of more than two dozen recorded covers of the song.

According to a draft auctioned in 2023, what title did Mercury originally consider for the song?

He wrote it in 1974 on stationery from the defunct British Midland Airways before crossing the word out.

The Bechstein grand piano Mercury used was allegedly the same one heard on which Beatles song?

Mercury also played the piano in the promotional video and on the UK tour.

In December 2018 it became the most-streamed song of the 20th century, overtaking which Nirvana track?

It also passed Guns N' Roses' 'Sweet Child o' Mine' and became the most-streamed classic rock song ever.

What was the B-side of the original 1975 'Bohemian Rhapsody' single?

The Roger Taylor song was reissued with it on a limited 12-inch for the 40th anniversary in 2015.

Some sections of the recording featured how many vocal overdubs?

Working with 24-track tape, the band bounced down to eighth-generation sub-mixes until May could see light through the worn tape.

What position did the single reach on the US Billboard Hot 100 on its original release?

Rolling Stone's Anthony DeCurtis called it the quintessential thing that doesn't quite translate to America; the 1992 reissue did better.

In which category did the Wayne's World clip win Queen their only MTV VMA?

Accepting it, Brian May was overcome and said that 'Freddie would be tickled'.

Which song did it beat into second in a 2002 Guinness poll for Britain's favourite single?

A year earlier the same Lennon song had edged it in an Observer and Channel 4 poll of the best number ones.

At which studios was the promotional video shot while the band rehearsed for their tour?

They hired a Trillion truck from their old management company Trident; the video was edited within five hours.

How many weeks did the 1991 re-release spend at UK number one after Mercury's death?

Paired with 'These Are the Days of Our Lives', it made the song the first to top the UK chart twice with the same version.

Who directed the pioneering 1975 promotional video?

He had filmed the band's 1974 Rainbow Theatre show; the cascading-face effect came from pointing the camera at a monitor.

As of 2004, which song was the only one played more on British radio, clubs and jukeboxes combined?

Procol Harum's 1967 hit kept it off the top; by Radio 1's 40th birthday in 2007 it was that station's most-played song ever.