September 17, 2010

Cohen and Queen

News Item: Sacha Baron Cohen to star in Freddie Mercury biopic

This instantly jumps to the front of the list of 2011 movies I'm most excited about. We know Cohen isn't squeamish about playing gay- but can he sing? Other than "In My Country There is Problem," I mean? I'm just glad they didn't do something foolish like cast Adam Lambert in the role.

We know we'll never get a decent, honest biopic of John Lennon or Kurt Cobain as long as Yoko and Courtney Love are alive. But here some other music biopics I'd love to see:

- Marvin Gaye. This one's allegedly in limbo because two different entities own the rights to two different chunks of his music.

- Jeff Buckley. It would probably have to be short though. James Franco would have to play him.

- Harry Nilsson. There's a doc out about him right now.

- Cat Stevens. Would be the most fascinating one of all, I'm sure, although American audiences would never go for a story that ends with the star renouncing his music and embracing Islam. Joaquin Phoenix would be more right for this role than he was for Cash, for both acting and facial hair reasons.

- Led Zeppelin. An adaptation of "Hammer of the Gods" could make a kick-ass movie, although I can't imagine it possibly avoiding an NC-17 rating if it's at all faithful. Ditto for Motley Crue's "Dirt."

Posted by Stephen Silver at September 17, 2010 03:25 PM
Comments
Post a comment









Remember personal info?