Bohemian Rhapsody: Is Rami Malek Singing Himself In Freddie Mercury Biopic?

Bohemian Rhapsody hits theaters in October 2018 and defies all odds! With a budget of $52 million, it grossed $910 million internationally. Directed by Bryan Singer and Rami Malek, the Freddie Mercury and Queen biopic reaches new heights.

resounding success

In France, it attracted 4.3 million viewers, a remarkable success for a feature film about a music star. It also won 4 Golden Statues at the Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Rami Malek and his creepy performance.

Bohemian Rhapsody tells the story of the success of the British band Queen through the journey of its singer and leader, the colorful character Freddie Mercury. The film is particularly noteworthy for its catchy musical score, to the rhythm of the most iconic hits of the famous quartet: Brian May, Freddie Mercury, John Deacon and Roger Taylor.

Rami Malek worked with coach and choreographer Pauly Bennett to get as close as possible to the character of Freddie Mercury. With him, he took care of perfecting all the physical nuances of a rock star. Foot position, gaze, body movement… everything had to be perfect.

In order to better slip into the skin of Freddie Mercury, the actor had to wear dentures to recreate this physical characteristic of the singer. After filming, the actor kept these impressive prosthetics as a souvenir.

Is Rami Malek himself singing?

However, even if Rami Malek sang the song during the shoot, it is not his voice that we hear on the songs. The production used the actual singer, but for some sequencing purposes, it was Canadian artist Marc Martel who performed the Queen songs. This singer has the peculiarity that he has almost the same voice tone as Freddie Mercury.

Rami Malek confirmed the information at the microphone Metro USA in August 2018. “Every time there was a song in the movie, I had to sing it. So there are moments where you hear a little bit of my voice, but mostly you hear Freddie’s voice. You do. From the moment you talk about it as one of the greatest voices in rock history, as much as possible You should use it. I don’t consider myself a singer.– the actor confided.

for Los Angeles natives, “It was difficult because it was impossible to play and believable. And I don’t consider myself a singer. I had never touched a piano before the film. Everything about this film was a real challenge for me.”

For their part, Queen members are full of praise for Marc Martel. During the auditions organized for the Queen Extravaganza show, they fell in love with her tone: “We hit the floor. He has his own voice and at the same time, his ability to sing like Freddie is extraordinary.”Brian May emphasized.

The video of the singer performing the Somebody to Love cast has gone viral and has 23 million views to date, as you can see above! “I’m not sure if Mark hadn’t been there, the movie would have been made. Obviously, there’s a lot of Freddie Mercury and a lot of Mark Martell in the movie. You can close your eyes and hear Freddy.”– convinced Graham King, producer of Bohemian Rhapsody.

Since then, Marc Martel has come a long way, hitting the stage with powerful interpretations of Freddie Mercury’s greatest hits. He made the great Celine Dion shake with emotion during the song Somebody to Love during the 2021 concert. You can watch the video of his performance above.