Here's How Queen Members Feel About Bohemian Rhapsody

Did Bohemian Rhapsody strike all the right chords in depicting the members of Queen, or did the stars' depiction of the famous British rock band falter?

According to critics and fans around the globe, Rami Malek was a total killer queen, standing out in a wonderful way as the late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, but what about the others – Gwilym Lee as lead guitarist Brian May, Joe Mazzello as bassist John "Deacy" Deacon, and Ben Hardy as drummer Roger Taylor?

Well, for Taylor's part, he was completely blown away by Bohemian Rhapsody — so much so that after a few screenings of the film, he briefly forgot it wasn't actually him, May, and Deacon up on the silver screen. 

"They got very close to us, I mean, visually and as actors. It made it particularly uncanny for us to watch," Taylor said in an interview with Flicks and the City. "And after a couple of watchings, viewings, I mean you just start to completely believe, 'Oh that was us.' No, no it's not. It's other people, but phenomenal."

Taylor is hardly the first person to be impressed by how strikingly similar the Bohemian Rhapsody actors look to the music legends. "Gwilym Lee playing Brian May looks more like Brian May than Brian May looks like Brian May," one fan wrote on Twitter. Another agreed with that particular argument, but was also passionate when pointing out how crazy alike Mazzello and Deacon look, tweeting, "Everybody is talking abou[t] how much Gwilym Lee looks like Brian May but nobody is talking about how much Joe Mazzello looks like John Deacon so I'm saying it now JOE LOOKS A LOT LIKE JOHN." 

Ironically enough, it seems that more people have noted that Hardy doesn't look all that much like Taylor than they have been struck by the British actor's resemblance to the rock god he played in Bohemian Rhapsody. Responses to Hardy's portrayal of Taylor have ranged from the hilarious "a Furby looks more like Roger Taylor than Ben Hardy does" to the harsh inquiry as to why Hardy was even cast in the first place. Beyond the scope of social media, however, a handful of critics have included Hardy's take on Taylor — fit with a wide-eyed expression and a banged blonde wig — in their mentions that the actors "look eerily like their real-life analogues." But, most importantly, Taylor himself was dazzled by Hardy's impression.

Taylor wasn't alone when speaking with Flicks and the City, as May joined him for the sit-down chat, during which he opened up about his thoughts on Lee, Mazzello, Hardy, and Malek's performances — as well as about the initial apprehension he and Taylor felt about making Bohemian Rhapsody and serving as creative consultants on the film. 

"We were a little reluctant in the beginning because it's difficult to do a film that would do Freddie justice and what happened over the years — because it was suggested to us a lot — what happened over the years is that we realized if we didn't get involved then somebody else would do it and then you wouldn't be able to protect Freddie's kind of legacy. And so, we got involved. It's a long journey, it's probably nearly 10 years since we've been talking to people, getting things ready, trying to get things ready," shared May. 

It all paid off for the surviving band members, though, as May was left amazed by the final product and astonished by the actors — whom he, Taylor, and Deacon didn't get to see "in full schtick" until "the first moment the cameras rolled" on day one of shooting the sequences for the Live Aid concert. 

"It just sent shivers up your spine because the recreation was so perfect of the venue and everything about it, including the backstage," May said. "And then these guys come on and they are us. And they plunged in the deep end. That was like the pinnacle performance they had to pull off right at the beginning of shooting. It was tough but they had it down." May then gave high praise to Lee's performance in particular: "I do kind of believe he's me, and I think, 'What have you done there? Oh no, it's him!' Like Roger says, it even suspends our disbelief, really."

Though not everyone bought everything Bohemian Rhapsody was selling and plenty had more than a few bones to pick with certain elements of the film, the living members of Queen clearly love it – and some might argue that theirs are the only opinions that really matter.