Sacha Baran Cohen's Freddie Mercury biopic finally gets a start date

Following the release of Bohemian Rhapsody, it has emerged that the much delayed biopic of legendary Queen frontman Freddie Mercury will finally commense filming next year.

The film will see The Dictator funnyman Sacha Baron Cohen step into the shoes of Mercury for the film that is set for release in 2014.

Queen guitarist Brian May revealed "I promised news of yesterday's Queen band meeting. Our main agenda was the Freddie film, which I'm happy to tell you is on course," he said. "Much of our discussion was about contractual things, it's pretty complex, and determining who is responsible for what.

The pieces are all falling into place, though we are now on a slightly later schedule - filming is now scheduled to start in the Spring, with Sacha Baron Cohen playing Freddie.

The film should be ready for release early in 2014. We did make some other plans, but they will have to stay under wraps for now. [Mercury] must be wryly smiling somewhere!"

The film carries the working title of Mercury, will be written by Oscar nominated scribe Peter Morgan and focus on the years up to Queen's 1985 Live Aid gig. It has Hugo producer Graham King set to produce with Robert De Niro's TriBeCa Productions co-producing.

With Cohen confirmed as Mercury, attention has fallen to who will play Mercury's girlfriend Mary Austin in the film, Katy Perry was recently rumoured but has since denied the claim.

Sacha Baron Cohen Photos

Katy Perry Photos