You know what? There may be quite a few people who feel that giving Sasha Baron Cohen the role of such a legend is a joke. But made no mistake, his ability has a character actor shows just how much he can transform into whomever he is playing. So with that said, I’m excited to see what Cohen can do as Freddie Mercury.

The news comes from fellow Queen member Brian May, who had this to say on his website:

Ah … I promised news of yesterday’s Queen band meeting. Well, it was just Roger and Jim Beach and myself … we are a small cottage industry !! Our main agenda was the Freddie film … which, I’m happy to tell you, is on course. 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. Being in Queen is – bizarrely – as full of surprising twists and turns as ever – 40 years since we first got together, and 20 years after losing Freddie. But of course Freddie is in so many ways very much alive. He must be wryly smiling somewhere !!!