I see a little silhouetto of a film

Will they do the fandango? Malik and Lee as Mercury and May, Hot Space style

I don’t go to the cinema that much.

For starters, there’s no way I can drink a litre of cola (which appears to be the smallest size available now) and then sit for two hours without needing to take a ‘comfort break’. Then there’s the trauma of contending with other cinema-goers, most of whom seem to have come to talk, deliberately rustle crisp packets, or be unreasonably tall and sit immediately in front of me.

It looks like I’ll have to brave all that come November, when a movie about rock band Queen scaramouches it’s flamboyant way in to your local flea pit. Cunningly titled “Bohemian Rhapsody”, it charts the history of the band from their early 1970s formation through to their remarkable performance at Live Aid in ’85, which is often cited as their best on-stage performance ever.

Judging from the trailer, which was released this week, the attention to period detail looks to have been dialled up to “obsessive”, as the band’s look has been faithfully recreated for all their many incarnations.

Rami Malek (of ‘Mr Robot’ fame) seems to have pulled off larger-than-life frontman Freddie’s mannerisms perfectly (even if his diminutive stature doesn’t match Mercury’s), whilst Gwilym Lee not only looks and sounds like a younger Brian May, I wouldn’t be surprised to discover the big-haired lead guitarist had discovered the secrets of time travel and was playing himself.

Ben Hardy’s Roger Taylor looks like a reasonable fit for the blonde-haired drum wizard, whilst bassist John Deacon gets the talents of Joseph Mazzello – who will have to work very hard indeed to bring the band’s most anonymous member to life.

The trailer features big hair, fisticuffs, a great gag about the length of their epic hit, a cockerel (no, me neither)... and lots of trademark moustache.

Let’s hope that the years of difficulties the film endured, including lead actors dropping out and a revolving door of directors, hasn’t blunted what could well be a great film about the band I loved so much in my younger years – and still do.

In a shock move, May and Taylor are serving as music producers.

Still, regardless of whether the film itself is magnifico or very very frightening, you can at least guarantee that the soundtrack will be awesome. Of course, they could just stick a new label on Queen’s Greatest Hits – the UK’s best-selling album of all time.

Save me some popcorn.

This post first appeared as my "A wry look at the week" column, in The Mail, on Friday 18th May 2018. It was re-titled as the somewhat uninspiring "I will have to brave the cinema again", and accompanied by a picture of some popcorn, rather than an image of Queen, or a picture related to the film.

So this is the first outing of my column in it's new, reduced, format.

Still - I am stoked for the film, which is actually coming out in late October - the November date on the trailer appears to be for the US market. I've no idea where the nearest cinema is to me, but I definitely need to go! If you haven't seen it yet, here's the trailer that got me all excited...

(CD A-Z: The X-Files: The Album.)