Actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has signed on to play legendary Queen singer Freddie Mercury in an upcoming movie, Deadline New York reports.
We're not making this up! Honest! This isn't Sacha Baron Cohen parachuting onto Eminem's face for a laugh at the MTV Music Video Awards, or wrestling naked with a large, hairy man (also naked) in the movie "Borat." This is, like, totally real.
The film, still without a title or a director, has been greenlighted by production company GK Films, which has hired Peter Morgan ("Frost/Nixon") to write the script. The film, including Cohen's star turn, has the support of Mercury's surviving band mates. Mercury died of an AIDS/HIV related illness in 1991.
Queen guitarist Brian May says Baron Cohen has been lobbying for the part for two years. It was not known whether Baron Cohen will do his own singing.