The film “Bohemian Rhapsody” about the group Queen is broadcast on M6 this Thursday evening at 9:10 p.m. But is it the lead actor singing in the film or recordings of Freddie Mercury?
Fans of Queen will probably be in front of their television screens this evening. M6 broadcasts the biopic Bohemian Rhapsodycentered on the British rock group and especially its singer, Freddie Mercury, this Thursday January 11, 2024. It is from 9:10 p.m. that it will be possible to follow the broadcast on the sixth channel, before finding the film in replay streaming on the 6play website.
It was the actor Rami Malek who was chosen to play Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. A real challenge for the actor, it nevertheless allowed him to win the Oscar for best actor in 2019. To interpret this legendary rock figure, he had completely adapted his gestures and his way of speaking.
But is it really his voice that we can hear in Bohemian Rhapsody ? Yes and no. The production has in fact decided to use a very specific process: the actor actually explained on the microphone of Metro that we can hear in the biopic “an amalgam of several voices” which have been mixed to give this unique vocal signature.
“Impossible to reproduce the way Freddie Mercury sings”
More specifically, the voices of Rami Malek and Canadian singer Marc Matel were mixed to obtain a vocal range close to that of Freddie Mercury. Around 20 minutes in, the actor explains “having sung” on set, but having been “dubbed for the singing scenes”. “However, it was essential that my physical expressions could be used in the film, although it was impossible for me to reproduce the way Freddie Mercury sang.
In conclusion, if you listen carefully to the songs of Bohemian Rhapsody, it is neither the voices of Rami Malek nor those of Freddie Mercury that you will really hear. And that’s the magic of cinema.