No, Rami Malek didn’t sing in Bohemian Rhapsody – the voice behind Freddie Mercury’s songs explained

2018 Bohemian Rhapsody was an incredibly polarizing musical biopic, but many can agree that Rami Malek killed it with his portrayal of late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury – even if Malek wasn’t the one who provided the vocals. The film follows a young Mercury, from his joining Queen in 1970 to the band’s iconic performance at the 1985 Live Aid concert. Bohemian Rhapsody broke box office records and grossed over $910 million worldwide (via Mojo Box Office).

The film was also an awards season darling, garnering four of five Oscar nominations, including a Best Actor win for Malek. However, Bohemian Rhapsody was not free from detractors. Sitting at 60% barely cool in Rotten tomatoescritics considered it superficial, especially with regard to the depiction of Mercury’s sexuality. Many pundits also criticized Bryan Singer’s controversial “messy” direction (Dexter Fletcher stepped in to finish the work after Singer was fired, although Singer retained sole directing credit due to DGA rules). However, almost everyone can universally agree that Malek gave a tour de force performance.

Marc Martel provided most of Bohemian Rhapsody’s Freddie Mercury vocals, not Rami Malek

Vocal stems from Queen songs were also used

Rami Malek cannot be accused of not giving his Bohemian Rhapsody performance is everything. To prepare to play Freddie Mercury, the actor recruited a team of experts to help. He worked with a movement coach to nail Mercury’s dance moves and a dialect coach to perfect the singer’s accent (via Rolling Stone). Malek learned to speak with dentures and took acting and piano lessons.

However, while many agree that Malek is practically Mercury’s doppelgänger in the impressive Live Aid sequence, he wasn’t able to nail the Queen frontman’s voice. Although parts of Malek’s real voice were used in some musical numbers, Most of Mercury’s vocals heard in the film were an amalgam of vocals from Queen recordings and the voice of Canadian Christian rock singer Marc Martel.. Martel has been performing Queen covers since 2011, as his voice sounds almost exactly like Mercury’s. Bohemian Rhapsody producer Graham King said of Martel:

Literally, you could close your eyes and it’s Freddie. And that is a very difficult thing to do.

Ultimately, this was the right decision. It certainly would have added another layer of authenticity if Malek himself had been able to recreate Mercury’s vocals, but the most important part is the performance, capturing the essence of who Mercury was both as a singer and as a man. Malek was undeniably the perfect actor for the job.

Malek wanted Bohemian Rhapsody to delve deeper into Quicksilver’s life

A fuller portrait may have satisfied Bohemian Rhapsody’s detractors

Although Freddie Mercury’s sexuality is discussed and explored in the 2018 film, perhaps the biggest criticism of Bohemian Rhapsody that’s how watered down the true story of Mercury’s personal life is. Many feel this the film spends too much time on his platonic relationship with his ex-girlfriend Mary Austin rather than exploring his romantic and sexual life in the gay community. Malek acknowledged this, telling Vanity Fair,

The fact, which he openly admitted, was that one of Freddie Mercury’s hobbies was sex. He was very promiscuous.

Bohemian Rhapsody is rated PG-13, and it’s this accessible rating that likely contributed to its massive financial success. More explicit sexual content may have yielded an R rating. However, criticism of the film’s watering down of Mercury’s queer life is valid, especially since there isn’t really any representation of real joy in the singer embracing his sexuality. Her most significant romantic relationship with a man is with her toxic manager, Paul Prenter, and her gay experiences are associated with drug use. And interestingly, if Malek got what he wanted, Bohemian Rhapsody would have shown a more complete and joyful side of Mercury:

He used to host elegant and beautiful dinners for his friends, not a bunch of strangers as portrayed in the film. He didn’t even grow up as a Christian, but he threw Christmas parties and gave everyone a gift. He loved to entertain and was very generous. I mean, you could portray every aspect of his life. The fact is we had two hours and the point of this film was to celebrate the man. If you delve into certain aspects raised in your life, you will truly miss the glory of who you were and are this authentic, challenging and revolutionary human being.

If the film had gone in Malek’s desired direction, it could have gone a long way toward calming his critics. However, the actor is right that biopics have the unenviable task of taking a person’s entire life and reducing it to a palatable running time. While the stories of Mercury’s personal life could have been more authentic and fully fleshed out, hopefully Malek’s inspiring performance will encourage viewers to learn more about the iconic singer.

What has Malek been up to since Bohemian Rhapsody?

He played a Bond villain, starred in a best picture-winning film and has two upcoming projects

Rami Malek definitely hasn’t slowed down after his Oscar win Bohemian Rhapsody. Following the film’s release in 2018, Malek appeared in the fourth and final season of Mister Robotthe show that won him an Emmy for his performance as computer hacker Elliot Alderson. He also presented an episode of Saturday night live in 2021.

The actor’s film career also continues to impress. He joined the pantheon of Bond villains when he played Lyutsifer Safin in 2021 There’s no time to diewhich also served as Daniel Craig’s final appearance as 007. Malek also appeared in the star-studded cast of the recent Best Picture winner Oppenheimerlike nuclear physicist David Hill. Clearly, playing real-life people is appealing to Malek, as he will play psychologist Douglas Kelley in the upcoming historical drama. Nuremberg (release date to be defined). THE Bohemian Rhapsody the actor will also star alongside Rachel Brosnahan in the 2025 spy thriller, The Amateur.