LIFE, QUEEN & BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

*** JANUARY 27, 2019 SCROLL TO THE END FOR THE SAG AWARDS UPDATE ***

*** JANUARY 21, 2019 SCROLL TO THE END FOR THE OSCAR NOMINATIONS UPDATE ***

*** JANUARY 6, 2019 SCROLL TO THE END FOR THE GOLDEN GLOBES UPDATE ***

Welcome! This is the first feature item I've written since last year when I interviewed the cast of The Lair celebrating the 10th anniversary of that show for Gay Essential (click HERE for that piece). This is also the first feature item I've written for this new blog page. 

Just a quick little side story before I get to the real reason I'm writing this...

Since rent control ended in all L.A. Counties, the new owner of the apartment complex I live in raised my rent so much, I'm now spending more than half of my take home pay every month just to keep a roof over my head. I can't afford to do anything anymore, I certainly can't afford to take on any new film projects, so it's been quite lonely just going to work and coming home day in and day out. 

I've been occupying my time doing actor marathons. Just this year I did a complete Victor Garber marathon on social media, a complete Faye Dunaway marathon on this site and I'm currently in the middle of a Tom Hanks marathon on this site. 

Plus, the company I work for is shutting down the facility I work at and I'll be unemployed very soon so my anxiety is through the roof I'm paying way too much for. Fingers crossed I'll get hired to start a new job immediately after the New Year.

I finally got to do something fun recently and now I want to talk about it. So let's talk about it. 

Disclaimer: No money is made from this blog page. All of the photos from in this blog post are from Google Images. What is written here are my views and opinions. Negative comments submitted will not be approved and posted. 

SPOILER ALERT!! If you haven't seen the movie Bohemian Rhapsody, stop reading now.

I am one of those lifelong Queen fans... actually from around 1976 when I first heard "You're My Best Friend". I was very young but already taking many music lessons and performing. I was always very aware of most music of all genres long before and since then. Many groups and solo artists have been a huge inspiration in my life. Karen Carpenter was THE reason I wanted to be a musician and certainly Queen is right there at the top too. 

When MTV first premiered in 1981, there weren't very many music videos yet, so the small handful of videos they had were looped all day long and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" was among them. It was so great to see the guys attached to the voices we'd been hearing on the radio up until that point.

Queen is one of the most innovative bands to have ever existed. They were never afraid to take risks such as combining genres like opera, rock, soul, heavy metal and pop etc or writing songs specifically for the audience. I was watching an interview with Freddie Mercury where he talked about how Bohemian Rhapsody was really three different songs he didn't know how to finish so he just combined them into one. Genius! 

I never got the chance to see Queen perform live and not seeing Freddie perform is one huge regret I'll always have. Money is so tight these days, unless I win the lottery, concerts for me I'm afraid are a thing of the past. I do love watching footage of Queen performing. Nobody could capture an entire arena the way Freddie Mercury did. Seriously! Freddie could make personal contact with every single person in a stadium all at the same time. Who else does that?

Next time you're at a concert, watch the performer. Watch where he or she looks. There have been some great showmen/women like Barry Manilow, Cher, Elton John, Madonna, the late George Michael but they have never made that same connection Freddie did. Most performers never look beyond the first 10 or 15 rows if even that. I don't think George Michael saw the audience at all, I think he looked through the audience. Freddie had a way of making eye contact with every single person, or at least seeming like he was. Nobody else has ever done that. 

The tabloids were brutal with Freddie about his sexuality. I felt bad for him. It always bothers me when most celebrities are harassed over topics they don't want to talk about that are really nobody's business. It didn't take a genius to figure out Freddie was bisexual or gay, but the tabloid "journalists" wouldn't leave him alone. 

There did come a time in the late 80's when I could tell he was sick and thought it was probably AIDS as sadly, that was too often what was happening during that era. He was so thin and gaunt. Instead of the tight jeans and tank tops or spandex, he was wearing very large, baggy suits with shoulder pads. Again, the tabloids were relentless.

A press release was made November 23, 1991 that Freddie did indeed have AIDS. At that point in time AIDS was a sure death sentence and, like millions of other people, I felt so heartbroken and helpless, followed by abrupt shock that the very next day it was all over the news that he had died.

When a musician dies young, like Freddie Mercury, Karen Carpenter, John Lennon, Andy Gibb and George Michael etc; I get selfishly angry because I feel cheated out of all the great music that could have been that I'm never going to hear. Because they were such a huge part of my life, I mourn them like any family member or friend I would lose and have to learn to live in a world without them. I'm glad Freddie Mercury found strength in creating and recording music as long as he could.

Many years ago I'd heard about a movie in the works about the life of Freddie Mercury from the legendary rock band Queen and I got all excited. Then I saw that Sacha Baron Cohen was set to star and my excitement went away. For whatever reason, I've just never liked him. He's obnoxious, quite cruel at times and I don't see what he does as comedy. In all fairness, I don't personally know him and he may be a great guy, it's just not what I see coming across in the work he does. I just felt that he would make an exaggerated clown out of Freddie by sensationalizing certain aspects of his life. Though Freddie was many things, he was never a clown and deserves the utmost respect. I had decided as long as he was set to star, I would never see the movie. A couple of years later I'd heard he dropped out of the project and didn't hear anymore about it for a long time. 

A couple of years ago, I believe it was in 2016, I'd heard that the movie was back in production and would star Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury. My interest was piqued again, but in all honesty, I had never heard of Rami Malek and had no idea who he was or what he had done. I'm at that age now where I can blame my age for not knowing certain things and get away with it so that's the story I'm sticking to in this instance.  

Just before Bohemian Rhapsody opened in theaters, I looked Rami Malek up on IMDb to see what he's done and what I might recognize him from. He was in Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2. I had seen that once and I had to watch it again to see what part he had. If you're keeping up with my Tom Hanks marathon on this site, you'll see that Rami is in the movie Larry Crowne. I haven't gotten to The Pacific mini series yet, which he's in, but I will in the very near future as part of the Tom Hanks marathon. 

I just watched this wonderful independent film, Buster's Mal Heart. That's one of those films that really makes you think long after it's over, mainly because it can be interpreted a few different ways. Sort of like The Matrix meets Sybil. The film is well worth watching if you haven't seen it. 

Rami Malek is currently on a TV show called Mr. Robot, for which he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2016. I haven't had any television service for a number of years because I just can't afford it anymore so I don't know about most TV shows like I used to. I also can't remember the last time I got to watch an awards show. The only home entertainment I get these days is what I can find online and watch on my laptop. I did binge watch the first season of Mr. Robot last week and it is a fantastic show. That Emmy was very much deserved. I'm looking forward to watching the other seasons and getting caught up. 

Looking at Rami Malek, I was wondering how they were going to turn him...

Into him:

Except for that same strong jawline, I don't see Freddie at all and how would that be believable? 

I paid attention to the production as best as I could while it was happening. I'll always be disappointed Bryan Singer is attached to this project and still continues to get work when the opportunities he gets should go to people who are decent human beings. I wasn't on set so I don't know what is true and what are rumors, but I heard he was difficult and I do believe that 100%.

Then...

BEHOLD! The first photo of Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury was released and splashed all over social media...

MY GOD!!! At first I thought it was a photo of the real Freddie Mercury, then when I realized that was Rami Malek, I was completely blown away by that transformation and so excited I couldn't wait for the finished product. 

20th Century Fox started releasing trailers every couple of months...

The Teaser Trailer:

The Official Trailer:

The Final Trailer:

I was just so floored by what I was seeing. I couldn't wait for the movie to premier. 

The official opening date here was November 2, 2018, but there's a theater nearby that was airing it late in the evening on the 1st so you bet your ass I was there. I didn't want to see anything on social media to spoil the movie for me before I could see it. 

Let me just say WOW! I've seen many biopics over the years, but only a handful of them have moved me to that level of emotion. Most biopics don't even come close to getting the characters right. This Bohemian Rhapsody biopic got it all right. 

Let's start with the outstanding casting, wardrobe and makeup departments of this movie. They all really outdid themselves and found the perfect people for each role, flawless prosthetics & makeup and that perfectly detailed iconic wardrobe. Whatever those people were paid for working on this movie, it wasn't enough. 

Earlier I mentioned I was wondering how they would turn Rami Malek into Freddie Mercury... they pulled it off beyond anything I could have imagined. I recently saw a video where a woman with the film described his transformation using a slight prosthetic nose (that you can't notice no matter how hard you look), makeup shading and false teeth for the famous Freddie Mercury overbite he refused to fix because he was afraid it would mess up his four octave range.  

It's not just Rami Malek that took my breath away. This entire cast was phenomenal. 

Gwilym Lee as guitarist Brian May. It's so difficult to remember he's not really Brian May because he's so damn good. He and Brian May literally have the same face. Gwilym doesn't have to wonder what he's going to look like when he gets older. I don't know if he already knew how to play the guitar or not or if he was coached as the shoot went on, but he knew where the chords were:

Joseph Mazzello as bassist John Deacon. I read that he had his hair permed for real and it wasn't a wig for the mid 80's John Deacon. What a brave man. The perm I had in the 80's made my hair break off and fall out in clumps. Again, I don't know if he knew how to play the bass already or not, but he did it convincingly. I would have liked to have seen how John became part of Queen. He just magically appeared. I read that scene had been cut out of the final edit of the movie: 

Ben Hardy as drummer Roger Taylor. Every moment spot on. You would never know he's not really a drummer in real life because he hit every beat on time. I've taken music classes with people who couldn't keep a beat so what he did is even that much more impressive:

Lucy Boynton as Freddie's best friend and "common law wife" Mary Austin. From interviews I've seen of Mary in documentaries about Freddie Mercury, Lucy was right on the money: 

Aaron McCusker as Freddie's "husband" Jim Hutton. The only disappointment I had with the movie is how they skimmed over and past the Jim Hutton character and his relationship with Freddie too fast and should have spent a little more time on it. He's only the man who stayed with Freddie and nursed him through his illness until the day he died: 

For those of us who had a brain-chemical addiction to the PBS drama Downton Abbey, we are tickled to see Allen Leech as leech Paul Prenter... the man who wormed his way into Freddie's world, became his assistant/manager, kept him supplied with unlimited drugs, alienated him from the people who cared about him and then outed him to the tabloids when Freddie dumped him. Well done:

Then there's Mike Myers as the fictional EMI record executive Ray Foster who refused to release the song Bohemian Rhapsody because it was 6 minutes long. I didn't even know he was in the movie until I saw his name in the credits, then had to Google it when I got home to see who he was. I should have guessed when he said the line "we need a song teenagers can bang their heads to in a car." If you don't know that that means, watch the movie Wayne's World. 

It was wonderful to see that Adam Lambert was included in this epic film since he's one of the current front-men for Queen. You have to pay attention or you'll miss him in his role as the heavily made-up truck-stop truck driver implied bathroom hookup of Freddie's. 

Once I got past how everyone looked so perfect in their roles, I was blown away again by how hard each of them obviously worked to perfect every single little mannerism, posture, movement, gesture, glance, facial expression, accent, musical technique, choreography... you name it. They left no detail unchecked. I can't even begin to fathom the amount of time each of them spent being coached, researching, practicing and rehearsing. Their dedication is obvious and no one is a disappointment in their performances. 

Naturally the part that had me in tears from start to finish was the Live Aid finale scene. For those of us old enough to remember, Live Aid was a huge deal. There are documentaries that detail all of this on YouTube you can look up. 

The short story is, for those those who don't know, Bob Geldof was the lead singer of a British band called The Boomtown Rats and their popularity was coming to an end. A long story of events led to Bob and Midge Ure from the British band Ultravox teaming up to do a Christmas album called "Do They Know It's Christmas" featuring all the biggest British stars of that era to raise money to feed starving people in Ethiopia. 

Another long story of events led to Bob organizing a benefit concert to be held on July 13, 1985 in dual venues in two different countries: Wembley Stadium in London England and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia USA. Once word got out, other countries like Australia, Canada, Russia, Japan, Germany, etc had similar concerts for the same cause. Live Aid was seen by approximately 2 billion people and raised close to 40 million dollars just that day.  

When you think of Live Aid, what comes to your mind first? Queen right? I honestly can't remember any of the acts from the Philadelphia concert at all and would have to Google that. As for the Wembley Stadium acts, I have to think long and hard to remember who else was there besides Queen. I vaguely remember watching Bono wasting approximately 10 minutes of U2's set when he decided to suddenly switch careers from rock star to security detail, then left the stage to do crowd control while the rest of the band played the same refrain over and over. Other than that, Queen completely stole the show... and there were a lot of big names there like Paul McCartney, Sting, George Michael, David Bowie, Elton John, Paul Young, Status Quo, Spandau Ballet, Elvis Costello, The Who and Phil Collins among others.

The Queen Live Aid performance is among the most iconic performances of all time in music history. When I saw all 72,000 people at Wembley Stadium participating in "Radio Ga Ga" all in unison, I got goose bumps all over. Not to mention that famous "Note Heard Round the World". I phoned in my donation to Live Aid just after Queen finished. Here, watch for yourself and you'll see what I mean:

What really impressed me beyond words was the Live Aid scene in the movie was executed with such precision by everybody, it was just like watching the real thing on YouTube. It couldn't have been more perfect and I certainly appreciate all the hard work that went into that. 

  

  

I was sitting in this movie theater watching Bohemian Rhapsody, and at times it almost felt like The Rocky Horror Picture Show with as much audience participation that went on. We all sang along to the songs, did the "We Will Rock You' stomp stomp clap, did the "Radio Ga Ga" double praise double clap (I don't know what else to call that)... that in itself was a lot of fun for a full theater full of strangers brought together by a common love and to be celebrating Queen's legacy like that. 

I've read and heard some rough criticism about the movie. That's to be expected since there are some very unhappy people in the world who can't see the good in anything so they get jobs as film critics and some people simply think they're film critics because they own a computer. No matter how great a movie is, they'll look for something bad to say about it. What a sad way to live huh? The saying goes "those who act, do... those who can't, criticize". 

The "critics" say this movie isn't gay enough, or that Freddie Mercury's homosexuality wasn't addressed enough. Apparently we were watching two different movies because his homosexuality most certainly was addressed. No, Rami Malek didn't get down on his knees and suck anybody's dick, but as I mentioned earlier, there was an bathroom hookup at a truck stop. Freddie came out to Mary. There were scenes of his wild parties and visit to a leather bar. There was a kiss when Paul first hit on Freddie and a very tender moment with Jim. Anything more explicit and the movie would have gotten an R or NC-17 rating, which is what the Producers didn't want. 

They say his AIDS wasn't covered enough. Technically they didn't have to address his AIDS at all since the film ended with Live Aid set in the year 1985 when in real life Freddie wasn't diagnosed with AIDS until 1987. The way it was handled in this movie was just right. The subject was addressed and Freddie didn't want to dwell on it, just like he did in real life, he wanted to focus on the music.  

Look, there was so much to Freddie Mercury's life. Some events had to be re-arranged, timelines were altered to address certain subjects and some footage had to be left on the cutting room floor as they say. To be able to see every detail in chronological order would make a movie 4 or 5 hours long. Who knows? Maybe someday there will be a Director's Cut DVD with all the omitted footage.  

I've seen Bohemian Rhapsody compared to Lifetime TV movies, like that's a bad thing. I take offense to that because a very dear friend of mine produces a lot of those movies on Lifetime, Hallmark, SyFy, Ion, USA, etc. Other people I know write some of those movies, direct some of those movies, star in some of those movies and do voice work on some of those movies. A whole lot of people work very hard with long hours, are away from home for months at a time on location and work with small budgets to make new movies all year long and deserve nothing but respect just like anybody else. 

Bohemian Rhapsody deserves nothing but praise for accomplishing something so special that will live on forever. I see some very well deserved award nominations for this film in the very near future... hopefully an Oscar nomination for Rami Malek. 

I really shouldn't have because I really can't afford it, but I went back and saw Bohemian Rhapsody a second time the other day. Now I'll just impatiently wait for the DVD release and if I'm not homeless from being unemployed, I'll watch it a few dozen more times.  

My favorite quote from the movie is when the John Reid character said "What makes Queen any different from all the other wannabe rock stars I meet?" and Freddie replied "we're four misfits who don't belong together. We're playing for the other misfits. They're the outcasts at the back of the room. We're pretty sure they don't belong either. We belong to them." I don't know if Freddie really did say that in real life, but speaking as a misfit who has never truly belonged anywhere, those words make me smile.

I want to thank everybody involved with Bohemian Rhapsody for sharing with us a side of Freddie Mercury we never knew, but at the same time preserving the beautiful memories of the Freddie Mercury we all loved so much. 

January 6, 2019 

Golden Globe Awards

Tonight there was a whole lot of screams of happiness and tears of joy as we watched Rami Malek win the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama for his portrayal of the late, great Freddie Mercury of the legendary rock band Queen in the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. 

  

We also got to scream and cry some more as we watched Bohemian Rhapsody win the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Drama.

 If you read this entire blog entry, I mentioned how everything about this movie was right... and I do mean everything. The work that went into making each character as authentic as possible is phenomenal for everyone in the cast and the crew. 

In my mind, when I think of "Best Actor" or "Best Actress", I look hard at the role and I try to imagine another actor in that role. If it's a role any other actor can play just as well, if not better, then I don't think it's award worthy. When I think of a role and I can't picture anybody else doing it, then it should win awards. 

If you recall, at first when I found out who Rami Malek was and that he was going to be playing Freddie Mercury, I couldn't see it, but I kept an open mind and couldn't wait to see the movie. Once I saw how well he nailed every tiny mannerism, accent, move and look, I was so blown away I can't think of anybody else who could have done that. His dedication and respect for Freddie Mercury shined. Rami Malek was born to play Freddie Mercury and I couldn't be happier he's getting such high accolades. 

We still have the Academy Awards coming up. I'm tempted to be cocky and say Rami Malek is going to win it, but I keep reminding myself of the time Colin Farrell won the Golden Globe for In Bruges, yet didn't even get nominated for an Oscar. The Academy folks seem to be a bit more snobby than the Hollywood Foreign Press so we'll just have to wait and see when the nominations are announced on January 22, 2019.  

Tonight, I know all of those involved with Bohemian Rhapsody are in the party mood and I'm sure Brian May and Roger Taylor are going to be posting a lot more pictures on their social media accounts. 

The greatest thing in the world is when good things happen to deserving people. 

January 21, 2019 

Academy Award Nominations

I love what I saw when I woke up this morning. Bohemian Rhapsody has 5 Academy Award nominations and deservedly so. Looking forward to Sunday February 24, 2019 to find out the results. Congratulations to everyone who worked on this amazing film. You're all already winners! 

January 27, 2019 

SAG Awards

I'm disappointed Bohemian Rhapsody didn't win the SAG (Screen Actor's Guild) Motion Picture of the Year, but I'm so happy Rami Malek won for Male Actor in a Leading Role. It's a great honor to win an award based on the votes of your peers. His star is shining bright this year and he's earned it and then some.