Rami Malek’s James Bond Villain Was Partially Inspired By His Role As Freddie Mercury

For his follow-up to playing Queen’s Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, a performance which won him an Academy Award, Rami Malek is… voicing Chee-Chee the gorilla in Dolittle? However, despite this iconic poster, it’s not Malek’s most-anticipated role of the year: that would be James Bond “supervillain” Safin in No Time to Die. Little is known about the character, although in an interview with Empire, the Mr. Robot star did reveal that Safin was partially inspired by the “Don’t Stop Me Now” singer.

“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?” he said. “I’ve pocketed some things from some of my favorites. 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 even worked with the same dialogue coach from Bohemian Rhapsody, adding that he wanted to “create something that we couldn’t quite peg from any particular part of the world.” So, if Safin starts singing “Another One Bites the Dust” in an undefinable accent while expecting James Bond to die, now you know why.

(Via Empire)