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Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' Movie Fact vs. Fiction
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Getting the Band Together
In Bohemian Rhapsody, a young Farrokh Bulsara (who would later change his name to Freddie Mercury) approaches guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor in a car park after a gig and impresses them with his vocal talents. In reality, the three were sharing an apartment when a vacancy arose in the band and Mercury was the natural choice to step in.
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| People: Joseph Mazzello, Rami Malek, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy
Photo by Alex Bailey
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Fat Bottomed Girls wasn’t played on tour in the early 1970s
Early in the film, Queen are shown performing to huge crowds on their first US tour. In real life, the band’s first US tour was in April 1974 supporting fellow British band Mott The Hoople (the tour is referenced in the Queen song Now I’m Here). The headline band are not mentioned in the movie and Queen are seen performing Fat Bottomed Girls, a song not written or recorded until the summer of 1978 for the Jazz album.
John Reid's Dramatic Firing
In the Bohemian Rhapsody film, manager John Reid (Aidan Gillen) tried to persuade Mercury to drop the rest of the band and go solo, leading the singer to kick the businessman out of his limo and fire him. In reality, Reid had managed Queen between 1975 and 1978 and had moved on from the role amicably, handing over the role to Jim Beach and describing it as “the gentlest parting of the ways of anyone I have ever worked with”.
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| Aidan Gillen as John Reid in Bohemian Rhapsody |
Ray Foster
Mike Myers plays Ray Foster, an overbearing music executive at record label EMI who hates the adventurous "Bohemian Rhapsody." However, the character is a composite of several record execs who weren't sold on what would become Queen's masterpiece. "No one is going to be head-banging in the car to 'Bohemian Rhapsody,'" says the character, in a nod to Myers' iconic scene in Wayne's World.
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| People: Mike Myers |
Is it true Queen "hadn’t played for years" before Live Aid?
Definitely not! Live Aid came in the year following the release of Queen’s hugely-successful album The Works. The tour to support the LP started in August 1984 and ended in May 1985, two months before Live Aid. Queen were experts at playing stadium shows at this point, which is why they were so tight on the day.
Paul Prenter
Allen Leech plays Paul Prenter in Bohemian Rhapsody and is portrayed as the villain of the story, coming between the band and Freddie Mercury. The singer fires Prenter after learning he had not told him about Live Aid. In reality, Prenter was reportedly fired after throwing a party at Mercury's home and trashing the residence. Prenter died in August 1991, three months before Mercury's passing.
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| Paul Prenter was portrayed by Allen Leech in Bohemian Rhapsody. Credit: 20th Century Fox |
Rock In Rio was in the 1980s, not the 1970s
At one point in the Bohemian Rhapsody film, we see Freddie leading the band in front of a MASSIVE crowd in South America while the “love of his life” Mary Austin watches on TV from miles away. The movie places this gig in the mid to late 1970s, whereas it actually took place in January 1985. It WAS stupidly big, however as this clip proves.
Mary Austin
Freddie Mercury's long-time love and muse was Mary Austin, played in Bohemian Rhapsody by Lucy Boynton. In the movie, Mercury sees her while performing for the first time with his Queen bandmates. In reality, Brian May had already dated Austin and Mercury sought permission from the guitarist to ask her out.
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| Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury and Lucy Boynton as Mary Austin in 2018 |
Queen Never Split
One of the key plot points of the Bohemian Rhapsody film is that Freddie Mercury turned his back on Queen and started a very well paid solo career creating dance music in Munich. The band have to be persuaded to reconvene and play Live Aid in July 1985.
This is chronologically confusing - Freddie was, in fact, the THIRD member to record a solo album, after Roger Taylor (Fun In Space in 1981 and Strange Frontier in 1984) and Brian May (the Star Fleet Project in 1983). While all this was going on, Queen recorded Hot Space (1982) and The Works (1984). Freddie’s Mr Bad Guy album was released just before Live Aid in April 1985 and was actually a commercial success, making Number 6 in the UK charts and spawning the hit single I Was Born To Love You.
Freddie met his partner Jim Hutton (Aaron McCusker) at a house party
According to the film, Mercury meets the man who will share the last years of his life when Hutton is serving as a waiter at one of the star’s extravagant parties. In reality, Mercury met Hutton at a London club, and they rekindled the relationship some time later after another chance meeting at a club. Hutton took care of the singer during his illness and passed away in 2010.
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| Aaron McCusker plays Jim Hutton, Freddie Mercury's Irish love |
We Will Rock You is recorded in the wrong year
In the movie, Brian May is shown recording his stomping classic in London in 1980, while Mercury arrives from a heavy night of partying, complete with moustache. In actual fact, the song was recorded in 1977 for the News Of The World album and Fred was resolutely clean shaven.
Freddie wasn’t diagnosed as HIV positive before Live Aid
The biggest incident of dramatic license in Bohemian Rhapsody is the timing of Freddie Mercury’s HIV diagnosis. In a heart-breaking scene, the singer tells his bandmates that he has the condition at a rehearsal for Live Aid. They perform the biggest show of their lives with this tragic knowledge. In fact, Mercury didn’t find out he was HIV-positive until April 1987, according to his partner Jim Hutton.
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