Dexter Fletcher to helm Queen bio with Ben Whishaw as Freddie MercuryDecember 10, 2013 - 12:45 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Hot off directing the musical Sunshine On Leith, British actor-turned-helmer Dexter Fletcher has closed a deal to helm the movie on rock supergroup Queen, with frontman Freddie Mercury to be played Ben Whishaw, Deadline said. GK Films’ Graham King is producing, and Sony Pictures has first crack at the film. This has been a passion project for King for several years, and it started with Sacha Baron Cohen attached to play Mercury, the singular-voiced frontman. Fletcher made his directorial debut with Wild Bill before directing Sunshine On Leith, a musical based on the Proclaimers songbook. Before that, Fletcher became a familiar face acting in films that include Guy Ritchie’s Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels. Whishaw has been rumored to be getting the Mercury role for some time. According to Deadline, Fletcher has been meeting the band and getting a feel for the Queen story, and the intention is for the movie to get up and running next year regardless of whether Sony steps up. With the band’s songs part of the package, the pic will tell the formative coming-of-age story of the group, culminating in Queen headlining Live Aid in 1985. Queen’s performance is considered one of rock’s all-time great concert appearances. Mercury died November 24, 1991, of complications from AIDS, and while his death helped to remove the stigma of AIDS sufferers prevalent at that time and particularly in the rock music industry, Mercury’s last days won’t be the subject of the film. Script is by Peter Morgan and King’s producing with Tim Headington and Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal’s Tribeca Productions, and Queen Films. Among the tunes that are in the rights package are “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions,” “Another One Bites The Dust” and “You’re My Best Friend.” Whishaw, who got his breakthrough in the adaptation of the serial killer novel Perfume, is playing Herman Melville in the Ron Howard-directed The Heart Of The Sea, the Warner Bros film that stars Chris Hemsworth about the actual whale attack that spawned Melville’s Moby Dick. He starred in Cloud Atlas and played Q in the 007 film Skyfall and will reprise that role in the next installment. Top stories Paris Center Pompidou Musée National d’Art Moderne will host the screening of Sergei Parajanov’s "Triptych" on December 15. The creative crew of the Public TV had chosen 13-year-old Malena as a participant of this year's contest. She called on others to also suspend their accounts over the companies’ failure to tackle hate speech. Penderecki was known for his film scores, including for William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist”, Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. Partner news | Armenia to participate in key EU meeting for the first time ever National Assembly speaker Alen Simonyan has said that Armenia will for the first time participate in the Conference. U.S. reacts to Russia’s criticism of upcoming Armenia-EU-U.S. meeting Matthew Miller has weighed in on Russia’s criticism of an upcoming Armenia-EU-U.S. meeting. Lavrov sees ‘collapse’ of Russia’s ties with Armenia Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has underscored heightened tensions between Russia and Armenia. Russia clarifying reports on Baku’s alleged arms supply to Ukraine Russia says is carefully working to verify reports about alleged arms supplies from Azerbaijan to Ukraine |