The Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody doesn’t come out until next year, but we are already getting a lot of early looks at Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury.
So far it appears to be an impressive impersonation.
Director Bryan Singer shared a photo of Malek as Mercury on Monday, saying he couldn’t help himself.
Malek, who is best known for his starring role in the critically acclaimed TV show “Mr. Robot,” is playing the singer at the height of his powers.
Related: The ghost of Freddie Mercury reads North Carolina to filthÂ
The film follows the band from its formation to their historic performance at Live Aid in 1985.
Queen guitarist Brian May, who is a music producer on the film along with drummer Roger Taylor, shared a photo of the recreated Live Aid stage on Twitter.
💥LIVE AID LIVES AGAIN 💥 It's a Miracle ! IG'd for Bo Rhap the Movie !!! We are ON ! #queenwillrock #bohemianrhapsodythemovie #liveaid – Bri pic.twitter.com/PciBbZDlGw
— Dr. Brian May (@DrBrianMay) August 30, 2017
Fan footage of the filming of the recreation of Live Aid featuring Malek and the rest of his fellow “bandmates” taking that stage would later emerge. It has since been taken down, but not before a portion of it was grabbed by The Sun.
For comparison, here is the man himself, leading the real Queen out onstage before a crowd of over 70,000 at Wembley Stadium in London.
In addition to Malek, the cast features Gwilym Lee as May, Ben Hardy as Taylor and Joseph Mazzello as bassist John Deacon.
Mike Myers is also reportedly in talks to join the cast.
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Sacha Baron Cohen was originally going to play Mercury, but pulled out over creative differences with May and Taylor. He told Howard Stern that he wanted the film to include the sex, drugs, and rock and roll lifestyle and charges that the band wanted to present a more sanitized version.
The film is set to come out in December of 2018.
If you can’t wait that long for new Queen material, you’ll be happy to hear that May just published a photography book called Queen in 3D, with over 300 intimate snapshots and epic performance pictures that pop out at the viewer through stereoptics.
The band is also celebrating the 40th anniversary of the the release of News of the World with a deluxe box set consisting of three CDs, a DVD and an LP. It includes demos, previously unreleased versions of the songs, rare live tracks and instrumentals.
The DVD is a documentary called Queen: The American Dream, with previously unreleased footage of the band’s 1977 U.S. tour.