movies

The video everyone is watching the moment they finish the new biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.

 

With the release of the new Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody earlier this month, there’s one video everyone is turning to after seeing the film – the original recording of Queen’s iconic Live Aid performance.

In 1985, the 21 minutes Queen spent on stage at Wembley Stadium in front of a sold out crowd and a global TV audience of millions landed the band the title of ‘the greatest live gig of all time’.

And now, over three decades later, the performance is still just as breathtaking as ever.

The new biopic, featuring Rami Malek as Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, has led thousands to return to the iconic Live Aid performance, with many fans pointing out how incredibly accurate Malek’s portrayal of Mercury is.

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From the placement of Pepsi cups littered on Mercury’s piano to Mercury’s facial expressions and gestures, the similarities were unbelievably accurate.

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Speaking to news.com.au’s Andrew Bucklow last month, actor Malek described how he watched a YouTube clip of the 1985 performance over 1,500 times to get Mercury’s gestures and movements down pat.

“That’s something we tried to get move for move, even just gesture for gesture perfectly,” he said.

“It felt like I had it in my bones and I didn’t want to keep going back to it. It felt like sometimes you would lose a little bit of the authenticity if you tried to nail it so perfectly.

“Things won’t exactly match up, there might be a hint of something that’s off, but I think that kept it feeling really alive and in the moment and it was better to sacrifice it that way, but yeah, I was watching it non-stop.”

Catch a glimpse of how Queen’s iconic Live Aid performance was captured in the trailer for Bohemian Rhapsody.

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As Wembley Stadium has changed significantly since 1985, the team behind Bohemian Rhapsody built an identical replica of the original stage at Bovingdon Airfield outside London. The set included replicas of the original musical equipment, banners and signs used in 1985.

The first week of filming for the Queen biopic involved filming each song from Queen’s Live Aid performance.

“[Queen members] Brian May and Roger Taylor were integral in making sure all the music was right and the actors got the movements and look right throughout the film, but especially in the Live Aid bit,” producer Graham King told Variety.

And there’s good news for fans who enjoyed the biopic’s recreation of Live Aid.

Although only three songs from the iconic set were included in the biopic, Malek shared that a full recreation of Queen’s entire Live Aid set has been filmed.

“There is a version of that whole concert but it’s been cut. We’re going to get to see it soon, then you will too,” Malek told Collider Quick in an interview.

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