Bohemian Rhapsody: Rami Malek reveals what made Freddie Mercury role even more 'DAUNTING'

Malek is an acclaimed star of the big and small screen, and his work in the Queen biopic has been universally acclaimed – even if critics have disagreed on the quality of the overall movie. In fact, Malek already has a Golden Globe nomination under his belt and is thought to be in the running for the Oscars shortlist too. But his preparation for the part wasn’t particularly straightforward – because he had the small matter of filming his hugely successful TV series Mr Robot to think about too.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, he was asked how much time he had to gear himself up to play the musician.

“Almost a year,” he said.

“But here’s the other thing: I also had to go shoot the third season of Mr Robot during all of that, which was quite a daunting task.

“I actually found a picture of Elliot Alderson [his character] with the teeth of Freddie Mercury the other day and it kind of made my brain explode.

“One cool thing, when we had wrapped season three of Mr Robot, they knew within two weeks I was going to start shooting [Bohemian Rhapsody].

“[Showrunner] Sam Esmail says, ‘Give me something.’ So as we wrapped that day, I did a little spin in my hoodie and flipped my leg up in the air like a dancer.

“The whole crew erupted in laughter because they’ve never seen that out of Elliot.”

In the same interview, Malek was asked about the widely-reported-on behind-the-scenes troubles that saw director Bryan Singer exit the production.

“Ultimately, I’m proud of the way I conducted myself throughout this film,” he said.

“I can say that every day I got up with the intention of honoring this man’s story, doing justice to it, and that put me in a position of leadership that I treasure.

“I learned so much from the experience, not only of obviously playing this man, attempting to fill his shoes, but you know, hopefully he would appreciate the way I approached persevering through every moment, putting myself in a role of leadership and taking on the weight of that as well.

“It was an evolution not only for me as an actor but as a human being. I hope that doesn’t come off as self-aggrandizing.”

Bohemian Rhapsody is out now.