Rami Malek Says His Role As Freddie Mercury Influenced His Portrayal Of Bond Villain

Rami Malek is best known for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody - a performance which earned him an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a Screen Actor's Guild Award and a British Academy Film Award (BAFTA).

In the aftermath, fans called for him to be cast as the next Bond villain in the upcoming No Time To Die film and were ecstatic when he was confirmed as 007's next nemesis.

Now, the 38-year-old has revealed that his role as the late great Mercury influenced his performance as Bond's adversary.

Speaking to Empire, he said: "If I went in there and tried to make a carbon copy of someone, what joy or fun would that be for anybody? I guess that may be a lesson I learned from Mr. Mercury.

"If it's not original, then why bother? I've pocketed some things from some of my favourites. But I tried to every day imbue this character with something I thought made sense for the character, but might also at the same time be shocking and unnerving."

Malek also revealed that he used the same voice coach that served him so well when playing Mercury.

He said: "I wanted to create something that we couldn't quite peg from any particular part of the world."

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After securing the role, Malek described it as the 'perfect follow-up' to Bohemian Rhapsody.

Speaking on Good Morning America immediately after the big reveal, Malek said: "It's thrilling. It's something so many generations have grown up with and you watch it with one of your parents, and then you just keep watching one right after the other. They're timeless movies.

"This is such a perfect follow-up I think to Bohemian Rhapsody. You know, going from one iconic Brit to an iconic British franchise."

Asked if he had taken inspiration from any other Bond villains, he added: "I've liked them all. I thought Javier Bardem did such a good job in Skyfall and Christoph Waltz - all of them have just been indelible."

Ralph Fiennes, Rory Kinnear, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris and Léa Seydoux will be reprising their respective roles as M, Tanner, Q, Moneypenny and Dr Madeleine Swann in No Time To Die, while new cast members include Billy Magnussen, Ana De Armas, David Dencik and Lashana Lynch.

And of course, Daniel Craig will be playing the man himself for the last time - anyone hoping he might change his mind should probably note that the 51-year-old previously said he would rather slash his wrist than play Bond again after filming Spectre.

No Time To Die is released worldwide in April, though exact dates have not yet been confirmed.

Topics: Rami Malek, TV and Film, US Entertainment

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey