Watch Freddie Mercury and Rami Malek side-by-side in this 'Bohemian Rhapsody' clip
By Ethan Alter, Yahoo Entertainment
Since its release in November last year, the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody has rocked the global box office to the tune of over £550 million, positioning it as a likely Oscar favourite as well. Fans of the British rock band will be able to do their best Freddie Mercury impressions in the privacy of their own homes when the biopic arrives on digital services on 16 February, followed by a 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD release on 4 March.
And speaking of great Freddie Mercury impressions, this exclusive clip from one of the bonus features on the upcoming home entertainment release highlights just how expertly Golden Globe nominee Rami Malek channels the late singer. Malek’s showcase moment comes in the movie’s barnstorming finale, which re-creates Queen’s legendary 20-minute set at 1985’s Live Aid benefit concert. (Watch the clip above.)
Watching Bohemian Rhapsody and the actual Live Aid footage side-by-side, you can see the re-creation’s high fidelity to reality. And Malek and his co-stars tried to enhance the realism by performing Queen’s set all the way through. “As a group, we all kind of came together and said, ‘You know, we’ve worked so hard on replicating this entire 20-minute set,’ it kind of championed us to get a full run-through of it,” the actor explains.
So when it came time to perform the Live Aid set, the cast started with the movie’s title track and then tore through the next five numbers until bringing down the stadium with “We Are the Champions.” “The energy builds as you go along,” notes Joe Mazzello, who plays Queen’s bass guitarist, John Deacon. “Whereas when you… pick it up from the middle, it actually made it more difficult.” If you ask us, Malek, Mazzello and the rest of the guys make being Queen look easy.
Bohemian Rhapsody debuts on digital services on 16 February and will be available on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on 4 March.