Bohemian Rhapsody: GOOD NEWS for Freddie Mercury Queen biopic – as Oscars unveil shortlist

The biopic – which has been a box office sensation despite middling reviews – has already collected a large number of early awards nominations, including two Golden Globes nods and two nominations at the Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAGs). But with the Oscars contenders due to be announced in the New Year, the pre-nominations shortlist for some of the categories has already been announced – and Bohemian Rhapsody is on there. So is it a good sign of more support to come from the Academy?

Nine categories have had their shortlists confirmed: Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, Foreign-Language Film, Makeup and Hairstyling, Music (Original Score), Music (Original Song), Animated Short Film, Live-Action Short Film and Visual Effects.

It’s Make-Up and Hairstyling on which Bohemian Rhapsody appears.

Its competition at this stage is Black Panther, Border, Mary Queen of Scots, Stan & Ollie, Suspiria and Vice.

Traditionally only three movies make it to the final nominations list – so can Bohemian Rhapsody be one of the lucky trio?

It has also been suggested that Rami Malek could be in line for a Best Actor nomination, though we’ll have to wait a little longer to find out if that is the case.

Malek is certainly off to a flying start in awards season: he is up for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama at the Golden Globes and Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role at the SAGs.

And despite the lukewarm reviews the movie received, Malek’s performance was received very well indeed.

In a recent interview, Malek said that the secret to playing Freddie Mercury lies in his songwriting.

“You see him as this rock god, this deity, a monolith, and he gets out there in this crown and cape,” he told Mark Kermode.

“It was very difficult to ever think that I was going to step into his shoes or get anywhere close to portraying that element of him.

“And like I said, I watched all the footage, I tried to get as much insight as I could from the living legends of the band and from Freddie’s sister Kash.

“But ultimately I realised what I had was a diary of sorts in all of his songs. So if you look at Lily of the Valley, and he sings, I mean he writes down as if it’s a piece of poetry.”

The actor continued: “In one sense you hear this sense of loneliness and profound alienation and longing for love. He’s ethereal and poetic.

“And he’ll tell you, ‘I’m not the world’s greatest songwriter, in fact, I hate writing songs.’

“But if you go back and look at what he put down, it stands alone as just great literature.

“And then when he put his voice behind it, well he’s singing the most powerful things that he feels so deeply inside.”

Bohemian Rhapsody is out now.