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Ex-EastEnders star Ben Hardy joins Queen... for a movie

Photo credit: Karwai Tang / Getty Images
Photo credit: Karwai Tang / Getty Images

From Digital Spy

Former EastEnders star Ben Hardy has landed his next major Hollywood role playing one of the greatest musicians in rock history.

Hardy has signed on to reunite with his X-Men: Apocalypse director Bryan Singer for the long-awaited musical film based on the life of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, according to Variety.

The upcoming biopic has previously cast Primetime Emmy Award-winning Mr Robot star Rami Malek in the lead role as Mercury, and now producers are filling out the Queen line-up.

Photo credit: Dave Hogan / Getty Images
Photo credit: Dave Hogan / Getty Images

(John Deacon, Roger Taylor, Freddie Mercury and Brian May of Queen)

Hardy will be playing Queen's raspy drummer Roger Taylor, while Gwilym Lee (Versailles) will portray the band's virtuoso guitarist Brian May and Joe Mazzello (Jurassic Park) has been cast as bassist John Deacon.

Hardy branched off his success as Peter Beale in EastEnders to become one of Hollywood's fastest-rising stars with a featured role as the Archangel in Bryan Singer's most recent X-Men movie.

The Freddie Mercury biopic has been in the works in various stages for the past seven years, and was originally envisioned as a starring vehicle for Sacha Baron Cohen and later Ben Whishaw.

Photo credit: George Wilkes / Hulton Archive / Cindy Ord / Getty Images
Photo credit: George Wilkes / Hulton Archive / Cindy Ord / Getty Images

Last year, Sacha Baron Cohen revealed that he ultimately quit the biopic over disagreements with the living members of Queen about their intention for the second-half of the movie to focus on the band continuing after Mercury's death.

"They want to protect their legacy as Queen, and I fully understand that," he argued on The Howard Stern Show. "If you're in control of your rights and your life story, why wouldn't you depict yourself as great as possible?"

The untitled Freddie Mercury movie is expected to hit cinemas at Christmas in 2018.


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