60 Fun Facts About Bohemian Rhapsody

Who plays Freddie Mercury in the 2018 film Bohemian Rhapsody?

Rami Malek won the Best Actor Oscar for the part, played in false teeth that copied Mercury's overbite; he spent hours each day studying footage of the singer with a movement coach.

What is Freddie Mercury's birth name, which he drops early in the film Bohemian Rhapsody?

Farrokh Bulsara took his new name in two steps: he was already calling himself Freddie at boarding school in India, and legally became Mercury around the time Queen formed.

What is Freddie's job at the start of the story in the film Bohemian Rhapsody?

Baggage handler at Heathrow is true to life, since Mercury really did work there, though the film skips the clothes stall he ran at Kensington Market with Roger Taylor.

In the film Bohemian Rhapsody, what is the name of the band Freddie joins before it becomes Queen?

Smile loses its singer on the very night Freddie turns up, and he talks his way in; in reality he had been friends with the band since 1969 and knew that singer, Tim Staffell, from art college.

Where does Mary Austin work when Freddie meets her in the film Bohemian Rhapsody?

The boutique Biba really was Mary Austin's workplace, but it was Brian May who dated her first; he recalls Freddie asking whether he was serious about her before asking her out himself.

In Bohemian Rhapsody, what does Freddie sell to pay for Queen's first album?

Their van. The real Queen cut their debut album in off-peak downtime at Trident Studios, moving in to record once the paying artists had gone home.

In Bohemian Rhapsody, which song are Queen made to lip-sync on Top of the Pops?

Killer Queen. The real band disliked the show as well: Brian May has said the 'Bohemian Rhapsody' video was made expressly so Top of the Pops could screen it without them.

In the Queen biopic, which fictional EMI executive refuses to release "Bohemian Rhapsody" as a single?

Ray Foster. He is loosely based on EMI chief Roy Featherstone, who did think the song too long for a single but was in reality a big fan of the band.

Which Wayne's World star plays the EMI executive who rejects the title song in Bohemian Rhapsody?

Mike Myers. His character scoffs that teenagers will never bang their heads to the song in a car, a wink at the Wayne's World scene that sent it back up the US charts in 1992.

In the Queen biopic, which radio DJ gives "Bohemian Rhapsody" its first airplay?

Kenny Everett. This part is true: the Capital Radio DJ got hold of a copy before release and played it again and again, and the demand he stirred up pushed the single out uncut.

In Bohemian Rhapsody, which album are Queen recording when they fall out with EMI?

A Night at the Opera. The film puts the whole band at the microphone for the title song's choir, but the real one was built from three voices: bassist John Deacon did not sing on it.

Who plays Mary Austin in Bohemian Rhapsody?

Lucy Boynton. She and the film's leading man became a couple after meeting on set, and he told her from the Oscar stage: 'You have captured my heart.'

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

Allen Leech. His character betrays Freddie in a TV interview, but the real Prenter sold his stories about Mercury's private life to a newspaper, and never went on air with them.

Which Game of Thrones actor plays Queen's manager John Reid in Bohemian Rhapsody?

Aidan Gillen. In the film Freddie sacks Reid in a row over going solo, but the real parting in 1978 was amicable: Reid called it the gentlest split he ever had with an act.

Who plays Jim 'Miami' Beach, Queen's lawyer turned manager, in Bohemian Rhapsody?

Tom Hollander. He reportedly walked off the troubled shoot over the director's behaviour and had to be persuaded to come back.

Who plays guitarist Brian May in Bohemian Rhapsody?

Gwilym Lee. The film's Freddie taunts his guitarist as 'Dr. Brian May', author of a thesis no one reads; the real May did go back and finish his astrophysics PhD, more than 30 years after shelving it.

Joe Mazzello, who plays John Deacon in Bohemian Rhapsody, was a child star of which Steven Spielberg film?

Jurassic Park. Spielberg had looked at Mazzello for Hook and found him too young, promised to get him into another film, and then cast him as Tim, the park owner's grandson.

Who plays drummer Roger Taylor in Bohemian Rhapsody?

Ben Hardy. The part was first lined up for Johnny Flynn in 2015, when the stalled film still had another script and another Freddie; Hardy took it once shooting was finally set.

In Bohemian Rhapsody, Freddie leaves Queen to make a solo album in which German city?

Munich. The film treats his $4 million solo deal as a betrayal, but drummer Roger Taylor had already released a solo album, Fun in Space, in 1981.

In Bohemian Rhapsody, the backlash to which Queen video comes just before Freddie leaves the band?

"I Want to Break Free". The band dressed in drag to spoof the soap Coronation Street, a joke that landed in Britain but cost them airplay in America, where the film's Freddie fumes that MTV banned it.

In Bohemian Rhapsody, Freddie's father lives by "Good thoughts, good words, good deeds", the creed of which religion?

Zoroastrianism. The film makes Freddie's Parsi roots a wedge between him and his father, but his mother said he was proud to be a Parsee, just not particularly religious.

Where was the Live Aid concert sequence in Bohemian Rhapsody actually filmed?

Bovingdon Airfield. The stage was built on the main runway of the old RAF base in Hertfordshire, and the cast have said the Live Aid concert was the very first thing they shot.

Which song from Queen's real Live Aid set is missing from the concert in Bohemian Rhapsody's cinema cut?

Crazy Little Thing Called Love. The cast re-enacted Queen's whole set, but this song and one more were trimmed in the edit; the complete performance was saved for the home release.

Who was first announced to play Freddie Mercury when plans for a Queen film were revealed in 2010?

Sacha Baron Cohen. He walked away in 2013, reportedly because he wanted a gritty, adult tell-all about Mercury while Queen wanted a family-friendly film about the band.

Which actor was announced in 2013 as the new Freddie Mercury for the long-delayed Queen biopic?

Ben Whishaw. Within a year he was saying script problems had put the film on hold, and by the time it finally went before the cameras the part had gone to someone else.

Who is credited as the director of Bohemian Rhapsody?

Bryan Singer. He was fired with about two weeks of filming left, but Directors Guild rules allow a film only one credited director, and he had cast it and shot most of it.

Who finished directing Bohemian Rhapsody after its original director was fired in December 2017?

Dexter Fletcher. He had signed on to direct the same film in 2013 and left within months over creative differences, so he ended up finishing a project he had once walked away from.

When Bohemian Rhapsody's director failed to turn up on set, which crew member directed in his place?

The cinematographer. Newton Thomas Sigel took charge on the days the director went missing, and the absences ended with the studio firing him with about two weeks of filming left.

Queen's Brian May and Roger Taylor re-recorded which studio's famous fanfare to open the film Bohemian Rhapsody?

20th Century Fox. It was May's idea: the logo music arrives on his stacked, harmonised guitars with Taylor's percussion, and the same track opens the soundtrack album.

Whose voice was blended with Freddie Mercury's own recordings for the singing in Bohemian Rhapsody?

Marc Martel's. The Canadian rock singer sounds so like Mercury that producer Graham King said you could close your eyes and it's Freddie; his takes were mixed in with Queen's master tapes.

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 singer has an uncredited cameo as a trucker who catches Freddie's eye in Bohemian Rhapsody?

Adam Lambert. Bearded and uncredited at a truck stop, Queen's touring singer kept fans guessing for months, then confirmed it by posting a still with the words 'Who is he!?'

Where did Bohemian Rhapsody hold its world premiere?

Wembley Arena, London. The venue shares a complex with Wembley Stadium, where Queen played their Live Aid set in 1985, and tickets for the screening were sold to fans.

Bohemian Rhapsody dethroned which top-grossing music biopic?

Straight Outta Compton. The N.W.A film was left far behind as Bohemian Rhapsody took about $911 million worldwide, yet studio accounts aired in its writer's lawsuit showed it $51 million in the red.

Which country was Bohemian Rhapsody's largest market outside North America?

Japan. Sing-along screenings, cosplay and repeat viewers turned it into the country's biggest film of 2018, and its takings there passed those in the band's home market.

Which film took Bohemian Rhapsody's record as the highest-grossing biopic?

Oppenheimer. Christopher Nolan's film passed the Queen biopic's $911 million in September 2023, ending a five-year reign built on sing-along screenings and repeat viewings in spite of mixed reviews.

Which fellow nominee lost the 2019 Best Actor Oscar to the star of Bohemian Rhapsody?

Christian Bale. The Vice star was one of four nominees beaten by the film's lead, and Bohemian Rhapsody left with four Oscars, more than any other film, despite review scores among the lowest of any Best Picture nominee.

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

Green Book. Bohemian Rhapsody had been the surprise winner of the Golden Globe for best drama, while the heavily tipped A Star Is Born went home with one song award, but the Oscar went to Green Book.

Which of Bohemian Rhapsody's Oscar wins was mocked online when a clip of one scene went viral?

Best Film Editing. The clip, of Queen meeting their future manager, became notorious for its barrage of cuts, and editor John Ottman agreed: he said seeing it made him want to put a bag over his head.

Which awards body withdrew Bohemian Rhapsody's nomination after renewed allegations against its director?

GLAAD. The LGBTQ media watchdog pulled the film from its awards after new allegations against its director, while Britain's film academy kept the film nominated and suspended only his name.

Anthony McCarten, who wrote Bohemian Rhapsody, also scripted which Oscar-winning biopic?

The Theory of Everything. McCarten's biopics kept winning their leads the Best Actor Oscar: Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking, Gary Oldman as Churchill in Darkest Hour, then Bohemian Rhapsody's Freddie.

Which song does Bohemian Rhapsody show Queen writing in the early 1980s, years after they really did?

"We Will Rock You". Brian May wrote it in 1977 after a crowd in Stafford kept singing to the band once the encore was over; he wanted an anthem the audience could perform themselves.

Which event does Bohemian Rhapsody move to before Live Aid?

Freddie's HIV diagnosis. Accounts place the real diagnosis in 1986 or 1987, well after the concert, and his bandmates were not told until 1989.

Bohemian Rhapsody makes Jim Hutton a waiter at Freddie's party, but what was the real Hutton's job when they met?

Hairdresser. He worked at the Savoy Hotel and met Mercury in a nightclub, where by his own account he turned down a drink without recognising him; they got together on meeting again some eighteen months later.

In Bohemian Rhapsody, which ballad does Freddie show Mary a vast Rio crowd singing back to him?

Love of My Life. The film places the Rio show years too early: the recording it uses is from Rock in Rio in January 1985, only about six months before Live Aid.

In Bohemian Rhapsody, which pets does Freddie phone home to talk to and give a room each in his new house?

Cats. The film barely exaggerates: Mercury kept at least ten over his life, most of them rescues, and wrote the song Delilah for his favourite.

Which staple of a hit single does "Bohemian Rhapsody" famously do without?

A repeating chorus. The song runs for almost six minutes through a ballad, a mock opera and a hard-rock finale without once returning to a refrain, one reason executives doubted radio would touch it.

What did "Weird Al" Yankovic call his 1993 polka version of "Bohemian Rhapsody"?

Bohemian Polka. His polkas usually stitch a string of other people's hits into a medley, but on the album Alapalooza he played this one song all the way through at oompah speed.

A draft showing that "Bohemian Rhapsody" was first titled "Mongolian Rhapsody" was sold in 2023 by which auction house?

Sotheby's. On the page Mercury had written 'Mongolian Rhapsody' and then crossed out the first word; it was sold with almost 1,500 of his belongings on behalf of his friend Mary Austin.

The cry of "Bismillah" in the lyrics of "Bohemian Rhapsody" comes from which language?

Arabic. It means 'in the name of God', and Mercury never said why it sits among the Scaramouches and Galileos; Brian May has called the song beyond analysis.

In December 2018 "Bohemian Rhapsody" became the 20th century's most-streamed song, pushing which track into second place?

Smells Like Teen Spirit. The Queen biopic drove the surge: weeks after its release the 1975 single passed 1.6 billion streams and edged ahead of Nirvana's 1991 anthem.

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

I'm in Love with My Car. Roger Taylor's car anthem is a running joke in the 2018 biopic, where his bandmates mock its lyrics, yet it went out on the flip side of the very single the film is named after.

Which part of "Bohemian Rhapsody" took some 180 overdubs?

Operatic section. Mercury, May and Taylor stacked their own voices into a mock choir there, bouncing the tape down so many times that May could hold it to the light and see through it.

The 1992 reissue of "Bohemian Rhapsody" stalled at US number two behind which rap hit?

Jump. Kris Kross held the top spot for eight weeks, but number two was still seven places higher than Queen's single had climbed first time round in 1976.

In which category did "Bohemian Rhapsody" win Queen an MTV Video Music Award in 1992?

Best Video from a Film. The band whose 1975 promo is credited with launching the video age won 17 years later for a re-cut of it, spliced with scenes from Wayne's World.

In a 2002 Guinness poll for Britain's favourite single, which song did "Bohemian Rhapsody" beat into second place?

Imagine. It was revenge of a sort: a year earlier John Lennon's song had pushed Queen's into second place in an Observer and Channel 4 poll of the best number ones.

At which studios, where Queen were rehearsing for a tour, was the "Bohemian Rhapsody" video shot in 1975?

Elstree. Queen had only three and a half days there to rehearse for their tour, and took about four hours out of them to tape the promo.

The chart-topping 1991 "Bohemian Rhapsody" reissue also carried a song from which Queen album?

Innuendo. The reissue was a double A-side with These Are the Days of Our Lives, released weeks after Mercury's death to raise money for an AIDS charity, the Terrence Higgins Trust.

The "Bohemian Rhapsody" video's director later directed which talent show?

American Idol. Bruce Gowers shot the promo in about four hours; it made his name and took him to the United States, where decades later he directed the talent show's live episodes from its first season.

As of 2004, which song was the only one played more than "Bohemian Rhapsody" on British radio, in clubs and on jukeboxes?

A Whiter Shade of Pale. Procol Harum's 1967 hit kept the top spot in that count, but when Radio 1 marked its 40th birthday in 2007, Queen's song was named the station's most played.