Bohemian Rhapsody has been 10 years in the making and has finally hit cinemas.
The cast were painstakingly chosen to play out the true story of Queen and their biggest hit Bohemian Rhapsody, with Freddie Mercury eventually being recast from Sacha Baron Cohen to Rami Malek over creative differences. Many people were involved in the real story of Queen and their most famous track Bohemian Rhapsody.
The movie is based on the lives of real people, from Freddies bandmates Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon, to his lovers Jim Hutton
But who are they?
Brian May (Gwilym Lee)
Brian May, 71, formed a band called Smile in 1968. It later featured Roger Taylor, but after two years they decided to disband. In 1971 they created Queen along with Freddie Mercury, who was friends with Roger and whod been a fan of Smile, attempting to encourage them not to give up on it.
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He was studying at Imperial College London at the time, studying physics and mathematics at Imperial College London, graduating with a 2:1 degree and ARCS in physics. He went on to study for a PhD, but he abandoned his studies when Queen took off. He later took back up his PhD and graduated in 2008.
Brian wrote many of the bands songs, including We Will Rock You, Fat Bottomed Girls, and The Show Must Go On.
He created the infamous guitar solo on Bohemian Rhapsody after the track had been created as he wanted to play with his head and not his fingers, and recorded the entire thing in one take.
He is married to EastEnders Anita Dobson. They married in 2000 having met in 1986. The guitarist has three children wiht his first wife Christine Mullen.
Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy)
Roger, 69, met Brian May in 1969 after he advertised for a drummer for the band Smile. After the band broke up he turned down the offer to play for Genesis, which meant Phil Collins joined the band instead.
In 1970 he was working with Freddie at the Kensington Market and they lived together, and Freddie, having been a fan of Smile convinced Brian and Roger to start a new band with him. They recruited John Deacon and thus Queen was eventually born.
He is credited as having written a great deal of Queen songs, including Radio Ga Ga, A Kind of Magic, Heaven for Everyone, The Invisible Man, Breakthru, Innuendo and These Are the Days of Our Lives.
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He also has five solo albums to his name.
Roger has two children from his first marriage, Felix Luther and Rory Eleanor, and went on to have three more, Rufus Tiger (a drummer for The Darkness and a touring musician for Queen + Adam Lambert), Tiger Lily and Lola Daisy May.
He also collaborated with Roger Daltry, Phil Collins, Robert Plant and Elton John, to name a few. He wasnt just restricted to drums, having sometimes played keyboards, guitars and bass.
John Deacon (Joseph Mazzello)
John studied at Chelsea College in London, now part of Kings College where he decided to join a band. He saw Freddie Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor playing in October of 1970, and although wasnt immediately taken with their music, later auditioned for the band after being introduced to Roger and Brian in 1971. He auditioned for them at Imperial College, where they were studying, and got the gig.
He went on to write one or two songs on every Queen album up until The Miracle in 1989 and Innuendo in 1991, after that the band were credited as a whole. He wrote the bands iconic track Another One Bites The Dust. Among others, he also wrote Youre My Best Friend, I Want to Break Free and Friends Will Be Friends.
John Deacon was upset by Freddie Mercurys death in 1991 and decided to bow out of the band, deciding they couldnt continue without him. He later said: As far as we are concerned, this is it. There is no point carrying on. It is impossible to replace Freddie.
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He played with Queen three more times before retiring from music completely.
John has since stayed out of the public eye, choosing to miss out on the bands induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2001 and not having huge involvement in the new movie, although he has given it his thumbs up.
Its been claimed hes said a few less than nice things about the groups remaining members, but is still said to be involved in the business side of the band, according to Brian May, who admitted in 2014 the only contact they have is regarding finances these says.
He now reportedly lives in Putney, south London, with his wife Veronica, whom he married in 1975 and had six children. Hes played by Jurassic Park star Joseph Mazello.
Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton)
Mary and Freddie met when she was 19 and he was 24. They sparked a romance and moved in together, with Mary even joining the band on the road.
Freddie proposed to Mary four years after they met, but he later changed his mind and came out as gay to his lover. She then moved out of their home, but he bought her a house nearby so they could remain close.
They stayed close after Freddie came out as gay. In real life shes said to have had a strained relationship with Freddies bandmates and hit animosity after the singer left her his house in west London in his will.
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Before his death in 1991 aged 45 due to complications from AIDS, Mercury asked Austin to collect his ashes and scatter them in a private location never to be disclosed – not even to his parents.
Mary abided by her friends wishes, and has never revealed where his ashes rest.
Ray Foster (Mike Myers)
Ray is a fictional character said to be loosely based on former EMI chief Roy Featherstone, who was behind signing Queens first record deal in the UK. In the movie hes a bit of a cynic, but in real life Featherstone was a big fan of the band, having heard their demo while on a trip to the south of France.
He immediately decided theyd be perfect for EMIs new label as a band different to any hed heard before, and spoke with Trident in arranging to get them signed.
However, he was said to have had doubts about releasing Bohemian Rhapsody as a single given its almost 6 minute length.
John Reid (Aiden Gillen)
John Reid was Queens manager from 1975-1978. He began his career aged 18 as a promoter for EMI and later set up his own company, with Elton John becoming his first client and the pair became lovers. They were lovers for the first five years of their professional relationship.
In 1974 he was sentenced to a month in prison for starting a fight with a journalist over the lack of whisky served at a press launch.
He was the one who initially said Bohemian Rhapsody could not be A Night At The Operas first single as it was too long. Deacon agreed with him, but Mercury and Taylor were convinced and got Kenny Everett onboard, a Capital FM DJ who later played the track live on air against his own bosses wishes.
In an early interview Deacon said the group signed with Reid after he got them out of their deal with Trident, claiming theyd been badly handled by the label, and signed with three years.
But with a year to go, theyd decided to manage themselves.
In a more recent interview, Brian May explained: Thing started to wear thin after a while. I think as what often happened was John related more to Freddie than the rest of us and his organisation as a whole centred themselves around Freddie, which was very devisive.
Roger Taylor said Reid had become focused on Elton John. I think Elton felt a bit threatened, he said. We came to the conclusion mutually that we should split.
Its been one of the gentlest parting of ways of anybody Ive ever worked with, Reid said.
He later parted ways with Elton in 1998 and quit management in 1999.
They entered into a court battle in 2000 which ended with him paying the singer £3.4 million.
He later popped up as a judge on the Aussie X Factor in 2005.
Hes portrayed by Bodyguards Richard Madden in Elton John biopic Rocketman, scheduled for a 2019 release.
Jim Beach (Tom Hollander)
Jim Beach took over management of the band from John Reid in 1978 and was there when they signed the get out contract in Freddies Rolls Royce.
He gave up a career in music law to manage the band and went on to become one of the most respected managers in music. Hes also a film and TV producer.
Freddies last words to Jim are said to have been: You can do anything with my legacy, you can do anything with music, but never make me boring.
He called Rami Malek an extraordinary Freddie Mercury.
Paul Prenter (Allen Leech)
Prenter was Freddies manager from 1977-1986, but he and Freddie were also lovers.
Things reportedly started turning sour in 1982 when the band released the album Hot Space, May and Taylor were very critical of the albums sound, both blaming the influence Paul had on their music at the time.
Paul was also accused of being too dismissive of the importance of radio stations at the time, apparently denying Freddie the opportunity of going on local radio stations despite their evident ability to connect an artist to its fans.
Many Queen fans refer to Prenter as Freddies Judas, after he sold a story to a national newspaper about Mercurys personal life.
As well as detailing his lifestyle, including claims that Freddie slept with hundreds of men, Paul claimed that two former lovers of Freddies had died from AIDs.
In the interview with The Sun, Prenter had said: It was more likely that I would see him walk on water than go with a woman.
Freddie told me his first homosexual relationship happened when he was at boarding school in India when he was 14. While we were touring there would be a different man every night, He would probably go to bed by 6am or 7am – but rarely alone.
He has a fear of sleeping alone, or even being alone for long stretches.
According to reports, it ended up with Freddie firing him as his manager and ending their relationship, refusing to accept his betrayal.
Prenter died from complications from AIDs in August 1981.
Jim Hutton (Aaron McCusker)
Jim was Freddie Mercurys boyfriend, who was with him right up until his death. Before meeting Freddie he was a hairdresser from County Carlow. They were together for seven years before the singer died in 1991 from complications associated with AIDS, and though werent married were said to wear wedding rings to show their commitment.
When Freddie discovered he had AIDS he told very view people, even banishing his best friend from his life for fear his secret would be discovered. But he told Jim. The pair were very private away from cameras.
He cared for Freddie during his battle with AIDS, right up until his death. Jim also contracted the disease and was diagnosed in 1990, allegedly taking a whole year to tell Freddie the truth.
Jim managed his illness well and died in 2010 aged 60 from lung cancer.
He released a memoir called Mercury And Me about their relationship. Freddie had been diagnosed in 1987. Hutton is said to have been one of the very few people who Mercury revealed hed been diagnosed too.
Bohemian Rhapsody is in Cinemas now.
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