WEBVTT - Rami Malek / "Bohemian Rhapsody" 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:17.960 M h. You're listening to playback a variety. I heart 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:21.799 radio podcast. I'm your host for IDI Awards editor Chris Tapley. 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:25.840 This week we've got the star of Bohemian Rhapsody, Romy Malick. 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:28.560 We talked about what it took to inhabit the role 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:32.280 of rock star Freddy Mercury, weathering on set tensions and 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:35.800 a whole lot more. So, sit tight, this is playback. 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:59.120 Been busy, man. I love Halloween and I didn't go 0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:02.200 out from Halloween and yesterday, and that's probably the first 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:06.319 time in ten years. Really, Yeah, you didn't feel compelled to. 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:09.520 I was just dressed up like Freddie again. I think 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:11.800 there were a lot of Freddy's this year. There were 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:17.680 a lot of Freddie, which means we're doing something right. Um, yeah, 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:20.520 I didn't either. But you know, my kid dressed up 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:23.160 as character called super Why. I don't know if you 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:26.280 know super Why. It's on Netflix. You should get to 0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:29.880 know super Why. Something about teaching you how to read 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:33.440 as it's a superhero. I don't know. I barely watched, 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:36.959 but he's all about it and that was his GUSTUMEA. 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:40.480 So maybe Freddy Marcury next year he'll be three. I 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:43.560 don't know. It could be interesting. It's not bad putting 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:50.520 a mustache. That's it. Thank you, Danny, Thanks Dan, Thanks 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:54.640 thanks again, man, I appreciate it. Good you, good luck 0:01:54.680 --> 0:02:00.720 with the photos. Get you lined up here. But yeah, dude, 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:05.880 you've been You've been busy. I've been I've been busy. 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:10.120 I've gone around the world for the first time in 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:14.320 three weeks, will be one around now. Let's let's just 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:16.519 dive in. Uh we're here today with Robby mall like 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:20.680 the star of Bohemian Rhapsody, Freddie Mercury himself also obviously 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:22.919 you know him from Mr Robot on TV, and he's 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:24.160 been busy. I was gonna ask you if you have 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:27.079 anything left to say at this point. I guess at 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:29.720 this point I'm trying to come up with anecdotes that 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:33.840 no one's ever heard. So if you ask very obscure questions, 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:36.920 perhaps I can give you something. Crash. Yeah, where have 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:40.720 you been? Everywhere around the world? Yeah, I've been all 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:47.000 through Europe, all around the world. Went from uh Sydney 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:52.560 to Singapore, landed in London and went straight into interviews 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:56.480 there and have just found my way back to Los 0:02:56.480 --> 0:03:00.280 Angeles via a few days in New York doing pressed 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:03.480 there as well. Well, you know what has the world 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:08.680 tour sort of revealed to you about Freddie Mercury and 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:13.919 his impact around the world in different places. Well, collectively, 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:18.359 everyone has their own relationship with Queen, the music, and 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:25.280 and the front man. He is revered by everyone from 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:30.560 every single country that I've visited. And I think you know, 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:34.040 when we set out to make this movie, Graham King 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:39.040 and Dennis O'Sullivan who had the rights with with the 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:42.680 legendary band members of Queen. Uh, they were taking it 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:46.320 to studios and I don't know how many studios actually 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:55.080 knew just how relevant this band is globally across generationally. Um, 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:59.480 the impact is massive. Everyone knows Queen, and everyone knows 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:02.960 Freddie Mercury. Now it's time with this film to bring 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:05.440 it to a brand new generation. Why do you think 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:07.280 that would be lost on anyone? I mean, it is 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:10.160 such a defining Like I feel like we all know 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:13.320 when we first heard Queen. Yeah, I don't know. I 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:20.880 think people just did not really anticipate just how massive 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:25.039 they are globally. Places like I'm going to Japan on 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:30.280 November five. They were huge in Japan. Freddie loved Japan. 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:34.200 He used to go over there and pick up all 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:38.400 of uh the art that they had, all the kimonos 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:40.960 he could find. He would come back with boxes a 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:45.080 full of things he collected in Japan. Roger Taylor too, 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:49.240 and they have a very heavy influence over there. South 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:52.599 America another place they played in Rio to two hundred 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:57.600 and fifty thousand people, the largest audience recorded to date. 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:02.719 That's a fact you'd find out in the film. Yeah. Well, uh, 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:06.520 you know, when did you first kind of take the queen? 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:08.800 When when did you first hear their music? I don't 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:12.160 know that I realized that it was it was Wayne's 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:14.760 world that brought it to my attention. Yes, is that 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:19.120 exactly what it was? Same? Yeah, And that's when Bohemian 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:24.279 Rhapsody hit the charts for again again number one. I'm 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:27.039 hoping this film doesn't. Maybe I think that will be 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:31.640 a really cool moment if Billboard has Bohemian Rhapsody at 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:34.760 number one. So I'm gonna put this out there and 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:37.719 and let everybody know that that's my goal. Everybody go 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:41.160 downloaded on iTunes. We'll also go see the movie, but 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:43.479 downloads I can get to the song on the charts. Um, 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:47.400 but I heard it, and uh, it was arresting to me. 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:50.599 It was halting and haunting and at the same time 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:54.960 uplifting and whimsical and ethereal. And as a young man, 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:58.320 I thought, Wow, this is the power of what music 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:02.279 can do, what what I think you know, types of 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:08.320 art can do. And uh, it inspired me. It invigorated me, 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:11.440 and I wanted more. And around the same time he 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:13.560 passed away, and that was the Did you see the 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:16.960 big Wimbley concert, the where all the bands got together, 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:20.600 the big remembering Freddie deal? Yeah, the tribute concert. There's 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:25.200 probably very very limited amount of things that I would 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:29.599 not be I've seen everything. If you guys have a chance, 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:33.280 watch George Michael do his rendition of Somebody to Love. 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:37.719 He was a massive fan of Freddie, Mercury and Queen 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:40.920 and he gives it his heart and soul. And if 0:06:40.920 --> 0:06:45.360 you watch, there's a documentary that takes you behind the scenes. 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:48.880 You can see you can see David Bowie standing back 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:52.520 and just watching George Michael and thinking, wait, am I 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:55.120 going to have to follow this guy? That was a 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:57.080 huge concert. I remember watching it when I was a kid. 0:06:57.080 --> 0:07:01.600 Guns and Roses did uh uh uh they did Bohemian 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:05.640 Rhapsody and we will rock yard. I think, what did 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:09.159 David Bowie do under pressure with Anie Lennox? That's exactly right, 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:12.960 you can ask me an. And it took Elton John 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:16.240 and Axel Rose to hit both sides of the notes 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:23.520 for Bohemian Rhapsody. That's how great Freddie's range walks absolutely well. Uh. 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:26.400 In fact, just to go back to that, most of 0:07:26.400 --> 0:07:31.040 the people singing that they had to alter the songs 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:33.960 to bring them down a key, yeah, because they just 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:38.520 couldn't go as high. And if you think about um 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:44.360 under pressure David Bowie, they went and made that song 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:46.760 on a whim, right. They happen to be in the 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:51.680 same city recording different albums, and they found each other 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:54.080 in one moment, crossing paths, and they came and they said, 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:56.600 why don't we do a song together? And John Deacon 0:07:56.720 --> 0:08:01.120 comes in with this baseline, this iconic bassline that we 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:04.200 know from Under Pressure now, which was also stolen by 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:08.320 Vanilla Ice. Remember, according to Vanilla he added an extra beat, 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:14.120 so it's not stolen, is that what he? Okay? But 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:17.000 they left that day after that just to go get 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:19.080 a slice of pizza. And when they came back. John 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:23.480 Deacon didn't. He didn't remember the bassline, and that song 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:26.640 was almost lost until Roger Taylor came in and started 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:32.440 drumming it out, and then uh they Freddie and David 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:36.000 didn't want to hear each other put down their their track, 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:39.440 so they went into separate rooms. But Freddie couldn't help me. 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:41.680 He said, I got to top him. So whatever he does, 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:45.040 I think that's some of the highest notes you'll ever 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:48.440 hear Freddie do in a song, and it is. It's 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:51.200 for me, one of the most powerful queen songs, an 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:53.440 amazing song. Is this part of the fun for you 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:55.760 as an actor, to dig in this deep and investigate 0:08:55.800 --> 0:09:00.640 and become essentially like a journalist? Yeah, yeah, it was. 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:04.480 It was something I look forward to every night, whether 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:08.720 I was on Mr. Robot or working on Papion, I 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:13.160 would as soon as I got home, and after learning 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:15.840 my lines for the next day of filming both projects, 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:20.000 I would sit and watch all the archival footage and 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:24.400 I was enamored with him and infatuated with Freddie, and 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:26.240 then I started to fall in love with him, and 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:29.960 I felt like a bit of a stalker because I 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:33.240 just wanted more and more and more I was looking at, uh, 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:37.040 you know, people's camcorded a video from a concert in 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:43.600 Japan in the eighties, and I just felt like, Uh, 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:45.920 if there was something out there that was recorded of 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:48.480 this man, I wanted to see it. And then when 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:50.800 I exhausted all the video footage, I would go to 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:55.080 anything that was like what we were doing right now, 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:59.240 a type of radio interview, because you could hear different 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:02.480 sides of You could hear how he interacted with someone 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:06.160 who was delivering him a tea or or vodka tonic, 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:10.560 and how demure he could be, how his pitch would 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:13.360 change when he was talking to someone he liked versus 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:15.760 if he was ready to get out of an interview. 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:19.600 You could hear his voice drop a few registers. He's 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:22.120 just fascinating. And when you hear people talk about him, 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:25.839 how he just walked into a room and that was it. 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:28.320 I mean, the air was sucked out and you could 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:32.360 feel exactly who this person was, and he had power 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:37.760 and gravitas, and you just wanted to know more. Well, 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:42.280 he's such an iconic figure. Were you more nervous than excited, 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:45.040 more excited than nervous, were nervous at all to take 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:49.280 on something this gargantean. Yeah, I mean how could you 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:53.280 not be everyone everyone has heard a Queen song. I 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:57.480 think if you haven't, you should and you have at 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:01.760 your own relationship with this band and this in and um. 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:05.360 You know, he struts on stage sometimes with a crown 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:08.920 and a cape, and he might as well be a superhero, right. 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:11.960 He's the closest we get to a Marvel character that 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:17.800 is actually a human being. So that's how I had to, uh, 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:20.719 just to begin to remove the weight of it is 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:26.800 think he's human. Um, he is a figure that there's 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:30.240 got to be a way I can connect with besides 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:34.960 this this deity, this rock god, this monolith on stage. 0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:38.400 And so I knew I could find his humanity and 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:41.320 that would be my way in. And I started to think, 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:46.680 here's a guy who's struggling with his identity. He's he's 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:49.720 a foreigner. I mean, if he if he doesn't go 0:11:49.760 --> 0:11:52.440 to this boarding school in India from where he was 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:55.520 born in Zanzibar, if it's not a British boarding school, 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:59.600 he ends up in London at eighteen for Rukable Sara 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:06.360 with a very heavy good Garati slash Indian accent. You know, 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:09.840 there are a few things that might have kept us 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:15.640 from from realizing the Freddie Mercury we now know. And 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:18.840 so I looked at this guy that was an immigrant, 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:22.199 a fish out of water, trying to discover his identity, 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:25.600 and uh, you know, someone who was called Bucky as 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:30.840 a kid and is also trying to discover his sexual 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:35.400 identity in a time and place and with a religious 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:41.440 family who very much stigmatized the idea of anything being 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:47.840 other than atrasexual. I mean London in the seventies didn't 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:52.319 didn't care too much for anyone identifying any other way. 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:56.320 So the fact that he has all this turmoil and 0:12:57.080 --> 0:13:01.400 frustration and struggle to understand him off but knows there 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:10.040 is a power, a voice, a a charm and charisma 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:13.560 that he wants to share. A defiant individual wants to 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:17.640 share the real self, his real self with the world. 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:20.560 He gets out there on that stage and he lets 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:24.720 it rip. And that's what I understood from, you know, 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:27.240 being a young man who grew up in the city 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:29.600 where and I'm staring at the four oh five right 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:33.640 now where you know I live, grew up about you know, 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:37.959 six miles down that way, and to think of being 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:43.760 here talking about this film and everything that's happening with it. 0:13:43.960 --> 0:13:48.120 Tomorrow it's going to open, and I could tether myself 0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:52.680 to that in a certain way, if that makes any sense. Uh. 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:55.720 You know, with something like this, the trick is not 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:58.720 slipping into an imitation, right, Like you really want to 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:02.040 embody something real about the character and not just kind 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:06.400 of mimic. Uh. I'm always curious when people play real characters, 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:09.680 like what you discovered about the real individual that you 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:12.240 really wanted to bake into your performance and make sure 0:14:12.240 --> 0:14:16.520 that came across. You know. There were times when I 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:22.680 was working on his accent, which is it's very posh sometimes, 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:25.680 but then a few things might slip out of it 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:29.160 that are come from his mom who or his dad 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:32.560 who have that Indian accent. And there were times before 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:35.840 we'd even get on camera where I would work on 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:39.880 just doing his mother's accent with my dialect coach, William Connacher, 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:42.720 and we would then layer on this kind of posh 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:46.880 RP British dialect and I would I would have him 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:50.000 down sometimes and in front of the camera it wouldn't 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:53.040 always be as good as it was off camera. And 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:55.760 I thought, well, that's fine at a certain point because 0:14:55.840 --> 0:14:59.920 I don't want to do a perfect impersonation or imitate 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:01.960 you know him, It would have to be me, and 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:05.200 I would I realized it's whatever emotion was happening for 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:07.880 me on the day was affecting how the words were 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:10.360 coming out, and so I thought, at the end of 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:13.560 the day, that's good. That what that it's altered in 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:17.360 a certain way. Um. Like I said, I watched all 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:20.000 the footage, but I always wanted it to be mine 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:23.200 as much as it was his. I didn't want to 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:26.080 lose myself and and people will say, well, he really 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:30.680 did lose himself, but there's a lot of me underneath there. Um. 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:33.240 One thing I didn't want was to be choreographed. I 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:36.040 wanted to be spontaneous in any moment, and not just 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:39.800 on stage. But uh, whenever I walked into a room, 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:42.680 as Freddie walks in late quite often in this film, 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:45.440 you know I was going to make an impression. And 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:49.960 it's probably, you know, sometimes the loudest I've ever been 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:55.400 on camera. I usually prefer very quiet and nuanced performances, 0:15:55.600 --> 0:15:59.080 but I remember Tom Hollander at one point, the actor 0:15:59.200 --> 0:16:01.760 came up to me and are you always this loud? 0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:05.960 And I was taken aback for a second, but it's 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:08.520 Freddie Mercury. There are moments when you have to be 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:12.080 But it was this, It was spontane spontaneity that I 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:17.600 always wanted, so uh, I felt it had to come 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:21.400 from me and him. And one thing I really used 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:27.320 as a guide more than anything was his lyrics. I 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:29.560 would look at the songs and one day I wrote 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:32.640 them all out because I found them so informative. It 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:35.320 was almost like a diary who was pouring himself his 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:37.560 heart out. And you know, there are times when he 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:43.600 talks about this, this profound loneliness or this this desire 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:47.080 for love. I mean he has he has songs. You 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:49.360 can see it in Somebody to Love? Can anybody find 0:16:49.360 --> 0:16:52.680 me somebody to love? He's got another song called Lily 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:55.240 of the Valley. I am forever searching high and low. 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:58.120 But why does everybody tell me? No, Neptune of the 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:01.440 seas and answer for me please? And so he has, 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:05.800 you know, loneliness and these ethereal whimsical, uh, kind of 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:09.360 fairytale notes of of what life should be. I mean, 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:13.199 he's got songs called Ogre Battle and March of the 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:17.639 Black Queen. And the guy is Uh, he's a poet. 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:19.679 I mean he could have. I feel like, if he 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:22.040 really wanted to, he could have been a short story writer. 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:24.800 But that's where I learned the most about him. I 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:28.159 could ask Brian made so much. I could ask Um 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:31.800 Roger Taylor so much. Jim Beach Miami Beach, who is 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:35.280 now the executor of his estate. He was is the 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:39.560 band's lawyer. I could ask Cash Uh, Freddie's sister a lot. 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:44.399 But the diary, the songs themselves were gave me the 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:47.800 most insight into who he was. Where when you first 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:50.639 started to do this work, where you uh was it 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:52.720 easy to to try to find the character or did 0:17:52.720 --> 0:17:54.680 you struggle at all? And was there a specific thing 0:17:54.840 --> 0:18:00.000 that really unlocked it for you that you came across. Oh, 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:04.000 that's a good question. There were moments throughout where I struggled. 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:08.000 I mean I remember one time I was working with 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:11.840 I was working with Paul Bennett, who was the movement coach, 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:15.119 my movement coach on this. She ended up doing the 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:18.280 choreography for all of us at Live Aid and through 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:21.359 the performances. And I was working on Mr Robot in 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:25.840 New York and trying to on my weekends work solely 0:18:25.960 --> 0:18:29.920 on Freddie Mercury. So I got Fox to fly her 0:18:29.960 --> 0:18:33.399 out from London. And there were moments when I was 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:38.280 just so exhausted from that third season and Mr robot 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:42.160 we I remember one time I said, Paul, I'm going 0:18:42.200 --> 0:18:45.359 to just grab a snack downstairs, and I came back 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:48.720 with thirty minutes later with an apple, and I could 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:52.200 just tell that my mind was it had been exhausted 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:56.800 and overtaken by too much. It was just too overwhelming, 0:18:56.960 --> 0:19:00.640 and that was wasn't just from having worked on robots, 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:07.760 trying to encapsulate this human being that is sometimes just superhuman, 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:11.639 and it was daunting. Yeah, there were moments where I 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:14.399 looked at myself and I said, what have you done? 0:19:15.119 --> 0:19:21.320 What have you done? And this will be impossible, And everybody, 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:25.280 I think, just could see that it was coming. It 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:28.440 was gradual. It was a slow burn, but things were 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:31.240 evolving day to day, and I just had to hang 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:36.120 in there and know that there was still time and 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:38.800 and I was going to put this together at some point. 0:19:38.920 --> 0:19:42.600 I just had to keep reminding myself, you can do this. 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:46.240 This is something that you've aspired to do your whole life. 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:50.480 It's a it's a daunting challenge, but you got into 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:54.080 this business because you like challenges, and and he has 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:58.679 a story to tell that I think is perfect for 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:03.160 this generation and who is really trying to identify who 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:06.560 they are and not be not be labeled or criticized 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:10.760 for being exactly the the authentic people that they want 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:13.760 to be. Yeah. I can't imagine having gone back and 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:18.000 forth between Robot and that character and then Freddie Mercury. 0:20:18.000 --> 0:20:24.120 I mean, there's such completely different dispositions headspaces. Obviously, it's 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:28.000 just I guess that plays into the exhaustion, right, Yeah, Well, 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:31.880 I mean I will say this. I mean people can 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:34.879 say that they are extremely different people, but there is 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:39.720 that that profound loneliness and sometimes alienation that they both have. 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:42.280 I mean, Freddie could be in front of a hundred 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:45.720 thousand people and go home just to a hotel room. 0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:48.400 And I've heard him talk about that from going from 0:20:48.440 --> 0:20:51.280 hotel to hotel. And you see that in the movie 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:54.480 as well. When when there's a situation with the band 0:20:55.240 --> 0:20:57.679 you broaches ais, aren't you guys tired of all of 0:20:57.720 --> 0:21:00.919 this album tour, album tour, being on on the on 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:04.000 the road all this time, no no real sense of family, 0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:08.960 um and uh, I think they're they're elements was Elliott 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:12.480 and Mr Robot. Now there is also one costume and 0:21:12.640 --> 0:21:14.760 Mr Robot that I get to wear and about a 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:20.280 hundred in Bohemian Rhapsodies, so that was a very different element. 0:21:20.600 --> 0:21:24.080 The last day of shooting on Mr Robot on season three, 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:26.960 I was in the last scene and everybody knew that. 0:21:26.960 --> 0:21:28.399 Two weeks later I was going to be on the 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:32.359 stage performing live aid. That was on day one and 0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:36.760 Sam s Mayle, who writes, directs and created Mr. Robots 0:21:37.240 --> 0:21:39.440 a dear friend of mine. He says, all right, give 0:21:39.480 --> 0:21:42.440 me a little, give me a little Freddie before you leave. 0:21:42.760 --> 0:21:46.600 And I did a spin for the entire crew and 0:21:46.720 --> 0:21:50.680 kicked up my my legs and gave him I see later, 0:21:50.760 --> 0:21:56.439 Darling with the British dialect, and everybody laughed. There not 0:21:56.640 --> 0:21:59.240 seen that out of the Kid in the Hoodie for 0:21:59.359 --> 0:22:03.080 about three year four years. Now by the end of it, 0:22:03.160 --> 0:22:08.480 where you, uh, do you feel like you finally felt 0:22:08.480 --> 0:22:10.439 at peace with what you were doing and did you 0:22:10.480 --> 0:22:12.280 feel like it was something you could have kept doing, 0:22:12.320 --> 0:22:14.199 like where you relieved that it was contained to this 0:22:14.240 --> 0:22:15.679 movie or is it like, oh, I could do this 0:22:15.720 --> 0:22:17.800 for a mini series. I would like to because there's 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:20.240 such a density of information that you've come across here 0:22:20.280 --> 0:22:22.520 and that you're trying to put into this. It seems 0:22:22.520 --> 0:22:26.600 like it could be a longer story. Yeah, there was. 0:22:27.520 --> 0:22:31.359 Graham King was approached by numerous people to turn this 0:22:31.480 --> 0:22:36.919 into a mini series. And what what I think is 0:22:36.960 --> 0:22:39.800 so special about this movie as you get to see 0:22:40.320 --> 0:22:45.280 these misfits that have no reason of being together this band, 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:48.560 and it's a coming of age story, especially to see 0:22:48.560 --> 0:22:51.080 Freddie who he is as a young man evolved in 0:22:52.720 --> 0:22:56.560 collectively write these songs together and then piece them together. 0:22:56.760 --> 0:22:59.320 And some of the best moments in this film are 0:22:59.320 --> 0:23:07.000 those serial crowd concert scenes that just make you feel 0:23:07.080 --> 0:23:10.359 as if you're sitting in the first three rows. And 0:23:10.400 --> 0:23:13.399 I don't think you could do that quite as well 0:23:13.680 --> 0:23:18.639 as on on a smaller format. But to your point, yes, 0:23:18.840 --> 0:23:21.399 I would love to drag this on kind of the 0:23:21.440 --> 0:23:25.560 way Johnny Johnny Depth took this into four iterations of 0:23:25.760 --> 0:23:29.359 Pirates of the Caravan. I don't know how many may 0:23:29.880 --> 0:23:33.080 on the way maybe, but yes, there is so much 0:23:33.119 --> 0:23:35.800 of a story to tell. We had a finite period 0:23:35.800 --> 0:23:38.760 of time. There are so many elements I wish we 0:23:38.800 --> 0:23:45.000 could tell in about Freddie Mercury, but ultimately, um, this 0:23:45.080 --> 0:23:48.680 is it's a two hour film that takes place from 0:23:49.920 --> 0:23:54.720 seventy two about. To be quite honest, some of the 0:23:54.760 --> 0:24:01.720 best biopics I think do do uh just um are 0:24:02.119 --> 0:24:05.600 are take place in in a finite period of time. 0:24:05.600 --> 0:24:09.720 I think capodis just around a few years if I'm correct. 0:24:09.920 --> 0:24:13.080 But of course he was. He was one of those 0:24:13.160 --> 0:24:17.320 characters Freddie Mercury that I didn't want to immediately dismiss 0:24:17.480 --> 0:24:19.359 as soon as we ended. In fact, we had to 0:24:19.400 --> 0:24:21.960 do a few pickup shots, and I mean I was 0:24:22.400 --> 0:24:25.600 chomping at the bit to get to a few months later. 0:24:25.720 --> 0:24:29.320 When we got I got to be Freddie again. Well, 0:24:29.359 --> 0:24:32.240 I do not wish to dwell on the director situation. 0:24:32.320 --> 0:24:34.960 That's been well reported, but I'm curious about how it 0:24:34.960 --> 0:24:37.240 affected you and how difficult was it for you to 0:24:37.320 --> 0:24:41.840 keep the character in focus amid whatever disarray may have 0:24:41.920 --> 0:24:48.360 been caused on the set. Well, it was at one 0:24:48.400 --> 0:24:52.200 point I think it just it all raised my game 0:24:52.359 --> 0:24:56.520 in a way because there were moments I just told myself, 0:24:56.560 --> 0:24:58.760 you know, things are changing, and what you can do 0:24:58.880 --> 0:25:03.040 right now is depend on yourself, push yourself to to 0:25:03.119 --> 0:25:08.760 excel even further and take on the responsibility of not 0:25:08.840 --> 0:25:13.280 only honoring him Freddie and doing him justice, but making 0:25:13.320 --> 0:25:16.560 sure that you know, everyone around me was was not 0:25:16.640 --> 0:25:21.919 going to fall into some type of chaos or or 0:25:22.359 --> 0:25:25.240 or melt down. I think I just had to pick 0:25:25.320 --> 0:25:28.720 myself up by bootstraps and and continue doing my job 0:25:28.800 --> 0:25:32.640 as diligently as I thought I had been. And when 0:25:33.200 --> 0:25:36.800 you know, if you think about me and Mr Robot 0:25:37.359 --> 0:25:40.200 and the first season, I had multiple directors, and I 0:25:40.280 --> 0:25:43.200 knew Elliott. I knew exactly what I was gonna do 0:25:43.680 --> 0:25:46.800 from day one to U to the very end of 0:25:46.840 --> 0:25:51.680