A few friends, knowing that I'm a Queen nut, asked me about the accuracy of the film, Bohemian Rhapsody. So, if you're interested, here goes...
Note - I'm working from memory and have only seen the film once. I don't think I'm wrong about any of this, but just be warned...
Freddie wasn't unknown to Brian and Roger. They'd seen him sing as a part of the bands he was in when they were in Smile. Fred's bands were called Ibex and Wreckage. In fact, that's when he first wrote the song, Liar, which we see him penning the lyrics for early in the film.
They certainly did not hear him sing for the first time at a bus stop, and stand in awe. They'd seem him sing a number of times. And they weren't overwhelmed, either. He had an odd vibrato, and a voice he didn't yet know how to use. It was his presence they found compelling.
They went through three bass players before they finally found John Deacon. I wish they'd shown his audition, because immediately, John and Brian bonded. Brian built his own guitar; John built his own bass amplifier. At one point in the film, we see a nasty scene where Freddie seems to find out for the first time that John had a degree in electrical engineering. That was very much known to Freddie, as early as 1971, as John did a great deal of the band's early sound/electrical work.
A lot of music is played out of sequence. In the film, when we see shots of Queen touring America - in 1974, we hear the song 'Fat Bottom Girls' being played. That song wasn't released until 1978.
Paul Prenter wasn't half as significant a figure in the life and times of Freddie and Queen as the film makes out. He was a bad influence on Freddie - encouraging his push into an increasingly hedonistic (high-risk) lifestyle, but he certainly never blocked Queen members or Mary from calling Freddie, nor did he prevent knowledge of Live Aid getting to him.
All the stuff about Queen being a last minute addition to the Live Aid line-up is bollocks. They signed on quite early. Infamously, when Bob Geldof rang to try and persuade Queen to perform (as they were at the top of his hit-list of acts), he said to Brian May, 'tell the old faggot it's going to be the biggest fucking show in history.' Sounds pretty unpleasant, but Geldof and Freddie were actually quite good friends.
Queen never broke up, and Freddie recorded his solo album with the band's blessing. And he was the third member of Queen to record a solo project. Roger first recorded a solo album in 1977, and Brian a solo EP in 1983. The band recorded their album The Works in ‘84, and both Live Aid and Freddie’s first solo album, Mr. Bad Guy, happened in ‘85.
And he was never in a mad rush to finish a second album. He didn't even start on it until 1988, and it turned out to be Barcelona, the duet album he recorded with the legendary soprano, Montserrat Caballe. Which was the year he shaved off his moustache, if you’re interested.
Freddie is shown with a moustache around the time We Will Rock you was recorded, which was in 1977. In reality, he didn't grow one until 1980/81. And that massive gig, where the South American audience took over the singing of Love of My Life didn’t happen until ‘85, whereas the film implies it happened in the late ‘70’s.
The big hedonistic party that Freddie throws is a composite event. When Fred speaks of wanting dwarfs, freaks etc - this a reference to a specific party that Queen threw in 1978, which was the record launch party for their Jazz album. (You could argue that the film acknowledges this with the shot of two girls on bicycles at the party, as Bicycle Race is on that album.) Also, the jacket Fred is wearing is almost a carbon copy of one he wore at a fashion show in 1987, with cast Fred as the husband to Jane Seymour's 'bride'.
Queen did not agree to split royalties and song credits four ways until after Live Aid, and after one more album, 'A Kind of Magic.' In fact, when Fred says to the rest of the band 'We're not bad for four ageing Queens' in that meeting of reconciliation, he didn't actually say that line until he used it on stage in 1986 in their epic Wembley gig, when addressing the idea that Queen were going to split up.
The way Fred spoke to journalists in that slightly surreal interview never happened. He said many cutting, nasty things in his life - but not in that context. The particularly crude one where he asks if the female journalist's genitalia bites (or has teeth - I forget what it was) is likely a bastardisation of something he said at a casual lunch when the band were touring Hungary in 86, to a hanger-on who wouldn't leave the band alone. (I won't repeat it here, as it's not very polite.)
Probably biggest of all - Fred did not test positive for HIV until well after Live Aid (which was 1985). It is thought that he first found out in 1987, and told the rest of the band in 1988. He DID struggle with his voice at the Live Aid rehearsals, but that was due to a serious throat infection. (He was actually advised not to perform - it was that severe.) And when he said he sounds like a vulture's crotch, he actually said that to describe the violent effort he was putting into a song (called Death on Two Legs) that he recorded in 1975 as an embittered 'farewell and f*ck you' to the owner of the record label (Trident) that the band were signed with at the time. That whole story was left out of the film, as were others.
Fred met Jim Hutton in a gay bar - he never worked as a waiter at Fred's house.
And for what it's worth, I didn't care about any of these inaccuracies at all. It's a film - a work of fiction - and I loved every minute of it. It nailed the feel of the band; the intense brilliance of Freddie, and the sadness of much of his life. It's a film meant for everyone; just like the band itself. Too many critics seem to be judging the film based on what THEY thought the film ought to have been, rather than simply focusing on enjoying it for what it was. Oh well. More fool them, I guess.
Queen were one in a billion. Long may they reign.
Comments