Sacha Baron Cohen has exited the role of flamboyant singer Freddie Mercury in a long-gestating Queen movie due to creative differences, an individual familiar with the project has told TheWrap.
Sony and GK Films spent years developing the project, which had been courting Baron Cohen's "Les Miserable" filmmaker Tom Hooper to direct, though insiders say the surviving members of Queen refused to approve the choice.
Queen also was hoping for a more reverential depiction of the band and its late frontman rather than the warts-and-all portrayal Baron Cohen and writer Peter Morgan had planned for the iconic gay singer.