Word of a biopic featuring Sacha Baron Cohen playing Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury has been gestating for a couple of years, and it sounds like it might be finally getting close to launch. Deadline has word that Les Miserables director Tom Hooper is circling a reunion with Cohen for the film set up at Sony Pictures and GK Films. However, no deals are in place, and Hooper is said to have several offers in addition to his Mercury biopic that would focus on the history of the Queen from their formative years up until their appearance at Live Aid in 1985, largely considered to be one of the greatest live performances of all-time.

GK Films grabbed a rights package to Queen that includes all of the signature songs from the band's discography which includes Bohemian Rhapsody, Killer Queen, We Will Rock You and many, many more. In addition to their chart-topping, sing-a-long inducing tracks, remember that Queen is also responsible for the Flash Gordon soundtrack and Princes of the Universe, the pseudo-theme from Highlander.

The surviving members are also throwing their full support behind the film with a makeshift production company (appropriately called Queen Films) to produce it themselves. This could be the kind of role that gets Cohen an Oscar nomination, especially with a script from The Queen and Frost/Nixon writer Peter Morgan and matching the high notes that Mercury made famous shouldn't be hard after the actors turns in Sweeney Todd and Les Miserables. Stay tuned.

http://www.firstshowing.net/2013/tom-hooper-circling-sacha-baron-cohens-freddie-mercury-biopic/