Bohemian Rhapsody is more than just Malek and Mercury

Bohemian Rhapsody has made Rami Malek a superstar, but just like Queen, it’s the whole band that created a smash hit. Find out how in the latest Deeper Cut.

When Bohemian Rhapsody is at the Oscars on Sunday, Rami Malek will be getting the lion’s share of the attention and deservedly so—his performance as Freddie Mercury is Oscar-worthy and the gold standard when it comes to starring in a biopic.

But both Malek and Mercury would say that they didn’t accomplish success on their own. Queen was a family, and Bohemian Rhapsody can’t be completely enjoyed without appreciating all of the band, as we’ll explore in this week’s Deeper Cut.

The brilliance of Queen was never limited to one person. Freddie Mercury was a legend, and will always be remembered as a truly unique voice, both literally and metaphorically. Yet each of his colleagues are also tremendously talented musicians and artists in their own right, and it was the collaboration of the four together that made music history.

Each of them has their own intriguing story, which each actor in Bohemian Rhapsody brought to life in their own different way.

Brian May is both an artist and a scholar. He originally earned a Bachelor’s degree in Physics, with honors, and built his trademark Red Special guitar at home with his father. Among the songs he wrote for Queen are the band’s iconic hit “We Will Rock You,” “Hammer To Fall” and “Fat Bottomed Girls.”

May has so many different aspects to him, and that could have been a tall order for Gwilym Lee, whose best known credit beforehand was co-starring in three seasons of Midsomer Murders. But he fell into the role easily. There’s a warmth to him, and a grounded sense that balances out the boundless personality of Malek’s Mercury. He feels so genuine in the role that the audience is also drawn to him in his own way. It’s Lee who anchors Bohemian Rhapsody, providing that steady presence even as the film’s stakes get bigger and bigger.

Before the existence of Queen, Brian was already bandmates with Roger Taylor; the movie’s first act shows how the duo were two-thirds of Smile and how Freddie was a fan of the band. But it didn’t last, and what music fans may not know is that Roger was asked to be the drummer for Genesis before Phil Collins. Things obviously worked out for both of them.

The Roger depicted in Bohemian Rhapsody is kind of the man we expect a rock star to be; he’s a bit flippant, a bit reckless, doing near everything with a sarcastic sense of humor. His arc over the course of the film is the most transformative—audiences see him go from the young gun behind the drums to the mature artist who gave the band “Radio Ga Ga.” Without him, there wouldn’t be that great scene where Queen has the entirety of Wembley Stadium clapping in sync.

Ben Hardy is responsible for some of the movie’s most charming moments. There’s the fight that Roger has with his bandmates over his single “I’m In Love With My Car,” which leads to the classic quip from Freddie that there’s only room in the band for “one hysterical queen.” And when Roger’s stuck trying to sing increasingly higher notes for the title song, he gets the laugh out loud reply, “If I go any higher, only dogs will hear me.”

What makes Ben Hardy such a great fit for Roger Taylor is that he has that same maverick quality to him, too. Hardy only made his film debut three years ago in X-Men: Apocalypse, and has only been acting since 2012. Bohemian Rhapsody is the biggest role he’s had so far by a fair margin. But he doesn’t feel like that when you see him on screen; it feels like he’s a natural. He brings something bright and refreshing to the movie, almost as if he’s finding himself while moving through the stages of Roger’s journey.

Then there’s Joe Mazzello, who had a different kind of challenge in portraying Queen’s bassist John Deacon. While May and Taylor were actively involved in Bohemian Rhapsody, Deacon retired from music following Freddie Mercury’s death and was not part of the movie (though he did approve of it).

That meant Mazzello was kind of on an island; Lee and Hardy had their real-life counterparts to lean on, and Malek at least had all of the memories and stories about Mercury. Far more has been said about Freddie Mercury than John Deacon, who has repeatedly been described as the quiet member of Queen.

Yet fittingly, if watched closely, the viewer discovers that his take is as much about what he does not say as what he does. As in real life, Deacon in Bohemian Rhapsody is the most quiet and the most non-confrontational; it’d be easy for another actor to get lost when in scenes with bigger personalities. Mazzello, however, plays with that distance and space.

Mazzello’s John is excellent in the way he reacts to everyone else, making the reaction as memorable as action. He uses the low-key approach to his advantage, when it could have been a weakness.

The theme of Bohemian Rhapsody, and something that the film makes clear multiple times, is the idea that Queen was more than a band—that they were a family and a large part of what enabled their achievements was that they all played various parts along the way.

The movie shows that on more than one occasion, reminding audiences that all four members wrote hits for the band, also including a key moment where they agreed that future songwriting would be credited simply to Queen as a group. They were so brilliantly well-rounded, and so too did their film alter egos have to have that same chemistry and sense of unity.

Chemistry is a word that gets thrown around a lot in the entertainment industry. But the truth is that it’s intangible, and as such can never quite be predicted. Bohemian Rhapsody was able to create something special with this ensemble that mirrored the beauty of the band.

Like the members of Queen, they are wonderful together but each actor is also worth watching in their own right. Every one of them contributes something that the picture wouldn’t be the same without. Yet there’s a genuine love for one another that comes across when they’re together. Even when the band falls apart, it’s clear that it’s so painful because of their compassion. The actors don’t hold back on showing the more difficult aspects of the band’s relationship, but the struggles come from a place that’s always honest.

When we look back on Bohemian Rhapsody, we should consider it exactly as we consider Queen themselves. The film found actors who were not only talented individually, but were able to truly serve the people they were playing, and became the family that the movie deserved. While Rami Malek will hopefully be lifting an Oscar this weekend, he’s not the only one who delivered a hit. All of the stars of this note-perfect movie deserve a standing ovation.

Bohemian Rhapsody is available on digital, Blu-Ray and DVD now. Find the latest Deeper Cut every Wednesday in the Entertainment category at FanSided.