Random Bohemian Rhapsody Recreated Queen's Legendary Live Aid Performanc (11 items)

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  (#1) The Cast Filmed The Live Aid Scene First

  As the event that bookends Bohemian Rhapsody, the pivotal Live Aid performance was the first sequence the cast and crew shot. From the perspective of the film's cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel, the decision "allowed the cast to come together early and create their chemistry." Sigel said, "I remember watching them rehearse three days before the shoot. They didn’t know each other, and those four guys really jelled, just like a rock ’n’ roll band would."

  Gwilym Lee, who played Brian May, recalled the fear and adrenaline he felt running onstage: "You either sink or swim in that situation, it's a real baptism of fire, but it forged us together as a unit."

  Over the course of a week, Lee, Rami Malek (Freddie Mercury), Ben Hardy (Roger Taylor), and Joe Mazzello (John Deacon) filmed one song from the Live Aid sequence each day. On the final day of shooting, they ran through the entire concert three times. Shooting the entire sequence in one shot was important to all involved. They didn't want to chop it up, lose momentum, or do a disservice to the integrity of Queen's performance.

  Everyone that watched felt emotion and excitement throughout the shoot. Malek said, "Doing the entire run-through of that concert, you feel the peaks and valleys of where the adrenaline is kicking in. You’re so high off adrenaline that you realize that’s exactly how they were able to do what they were doing. It’s that quality that makes you feel, even just for a moment, that you’re superhuman."
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  (#2) Filmmakers Built A Stage That Looked Exactly Like Wembley Stadium Circa 1985

  When the makers of Bohemian Rhapsody considered their options for representing Wembley Stadium, they knew the actual stadium wasn't an option. In 1985, Wembley Stadium included two large towers that were destroyed during the venue's redesign in 2003. Filmmakers also needed access to the site for multiple weeks, which Wembley's schedule wouldn't allow.

  With these restrictions in mind, location scouts looked around and settled on Bovingdon Airfield northwest of London for the site of their own Wembley Stadium. They wanted a location near London but large enough to accommodate their needs.

  When they started building the Wembley Stadium set used in Bohemian Rhapsody, they consulted pictures from the day of the Live Aid. Meticulous detail went into building the stage to scale. Cameras on mounts flew through the air as spectators watched the cast perform. CGI was later used to make it look like there were more than 70,000 screaming fans enjoying the show, just as they had in July 1985.
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  (#3) Members Of Queen Consulted On The Live Aid Scene

  Brian May and Roger Taylor, both executive music producers on the film, consulted often on set. May visited the recreated Wembley Stadium at Bovington Airfield, and tweeted pictures of the set in August 2017. May's caption conveyed his excitement: "LIVE AID LIVES AGAIN. It's a miracle. Bo Rhap the movie. We are on."

  Both May and Taylor were able to provide insights into what Live Aid was really like. Rami Malek said of the scene, "It was quite surreal...I’d be talking to Brian May as Freddie and future Brian May would show up. It was like being in a sci-fi novel."

  Live Aid organizer and producer Bob Geldof was also on set.
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  (#4) Rami Malek Practiced Singing With A Prosthetic Mouthpiece

  To accurately represent Freddie Mercury, Rami Malek had to adopt his physical characteristics. Malek donned fake teeth, which he carried around with him in a plastic container during shooting. He also practiced singing with them every night.

  For Malek, it was important not only to closely resemble Mercury singing, but also to embrace the vulnerabilities of Mercury's unique appearance. For the Live Aid scene, Malek "watched the way his lips moved while he was singing... and everything that’s happening in his throat and his vocal cords.” By combining practice and observation, Malek mastered Mercury's mannerisms.
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  (#5) Filmmakers Blocked Out The Sun To Heighten The Realism

  Dealing with rainy weather in England was a common difficulty for the Bohemian Rhapsody filmmakers, but Queen performed around 6 PM on July 13, 1985 - a prime spot in the Live Aid lineup and late enough in the day for the sunlight to be fading. In order to recreate the shadows, the light, and other environmental aspects of the performance, the film's cinematographer worked to create and block natural light.

  Director of photography Newton Thomas Sigel said, "We had to try and match shots done in full sun, then shade, and at different times of the day, so that we could give it some continuity. And we had to try and match our material with the original Live Aid footage as much as possible, and not take too much dramatic license, even though it’s a film and not a documentary."

  An additional challenge was lighting the show itself. Everyone at Live Aid had the same lighting, possibly left over from a Bruce Springsteen concert days before. In Brian May's opinion, the fact that all of the acts used the same stage, lights, and backdrop did a great service to the music.
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  (#6) Step-By-Step Choreography Couldn't Do Queen's Performance Justice

  As he transformed into Freddie Mercury, Rami Malek threw himself into the life, style, and eccentricities of the famed singer. Malek soon realized that trying to choreograph his movements on stage didn't work. As Malek put it:

  I needed... to capture his spontaneity. The man's not choreographed. Every time he steps out onto a stage, no one knows what he's going to do, and that's what I knew I needed to tether myself to. In order to do that, I realized, I can't work with a choreographer, I need someone to help me with movement, someone to help me discover the impetus for why he does what he does. Why every flick of the wrist occurs with him in such an elegant, sometimes dainty and sometimes aggressive way, depending on his mood. I just had to find his humanity - what his conflicts were - and discover all the sides of him, because I knew there was more to Freddie Mercury than a man who holds an audience in the palm of his hand. But I had to get that down as well.

  Mercury's Live Aid performance exemplified his ability to captivate an audience. As a result, the makers of Bohemian Rhapsody focused on studying Mercury's movements and embodying his spirit as much as simply recreating the event.
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  (#7) Rami Malek And Other Cast Members Worked With A Movement Coach

  Before filming the Live Aid scene, Rami Malek, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, and Joseph Mazzello rehearsed for six weeks. They worked with movement coach Polly Bennett and studied YouTube videos of the concert to master the mannerisms of their musical counterparts. 

  Malek and Bennett dove deeper into Mercury's life and mannerisms, studying his childhood, his physicality, and even his major influences like Aretha Franklin and Liza Minelli. Bennett explained, "[Freddie] was a long-distance runner at school and a boxer... this gives us a reason why Freddie ran across the stage and punched the air, and [allows me to explain to] Rami: ‘This is why that character moves the way that he does.’"
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  (#8) The Sequence Was Intentionally Chosen To End The Movie On A Positive Note

  Queen's Live Aid performance was placed at the end of Bohemian Rhapsody to send viewers out into the world on a positive note. Producer Graham King stated that the sequence was "so important to the story, because their performance grabbed people’s attention around the world." Queen's performance cemented the success of Live Aid as the band "really galvanized a global audience in a way no one else had."

  Giving audiences the Live Aid experience, according to King, was meant to "uplift audiences, rather than have them leave feeling depressed or emotional about Freddie [Mercury] and what he went through in his personal life... it's a real celebration."
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  (#9) It Was Important To Everyone To Capture Freddie Mercury's Passion

  The more Rami Malek watched interviews, performances, and other clips of Freddie Mercury, the more he realized how much the singer put into his performances. Malek said of Mercury, "He was giving it everything he’s got, every second, every moment. He was trying to make the most of it. He wanted to give everyone at every concert on every date the best experience they could possibly have." Malek wanted to do the same.

  Brian May and Roger Taylor wanted the movie to capture the band's history and Mercury's dynamism. Taylor stated, "We kind of saw Freddie in [Malek] and we could sense Rami's passion. The first time we saw him was actually in Roger's flat. It must have been horrible for him, having us watching him for the first time. But we were really blown away by him and his ability to perform - he's incredible."

  May echoed Taylor's praise: "I love the way that Rami has captured not only Freddie's great power and ebullience, but also his sensitive, vulnerable side, of which there was a lot. You know, he came from very small, humble beginnings, as you see in the film."
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  (#10) Rami Malek's Vocals Were Combined With Freddie Mercury's Throughout The Movie 

  Rami Malek couldn't sing like Freddie Mercury, whose vocal range exceeded opera and rock stars alike. But during Bohemian Rhapsody, he sang for the sake of realism. As a result, Malek's own voice was merged with Mercury's as well as with vocals provided by Canadian singer Marc Martel. Brian May chose Martel, who has been compared to Mercury since the beginning of his career, to be part of the Queen Extravaganza tour in 2011. Martel toured with the show for years and started his own Queen tribute band in 2016.

  For the Live Aid performance, however, Bohemian Rhapsody used the audio from the show itself. It was released for the first time as part of the movie's soundtrack.
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  (#11) A Version Of The Entire Live Aid Set Will Appear In The Home Release Extras

  The cast of Bohemian Rhapsody recreated the entire Queen performance from Live Aid, but that's not what viewers see in the theatrical cut of the film. The full Live Aid performance included "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Radio Ga Ga," "Hammer to Fall," "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," "We Will Rock You," and "We Are the Champions." The abbreviated version of Live Aid in Bohemian Rhapsody only keeps "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" in its entirety.

  The full performance will appear on the DVD, Blu-ray, and digital versions of the film upon its release to home audiences. 

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