by Fiona Moriarty-McLaughlin
So a kid from Sherman Oaks is playing one of the most iconic rock stars in history? Bohemian Rhapsody’s Rami Malek did just that, receiving Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s (SBIFF) 2019 Outstanding Performer of the Year Award on Friday, February 1st, for his role as Queen’s Freddie Mercury.
Rami did not let the Santa Barbara rain steal his sunshine. Walking in under an umbrella behind co-stars Joe Mazzello and girlfriend Lucy Boynton, the couples’ on screen chemistry translated to the red carpet. Rami sported a sleek, all black suit, while Lucy was dressed in an angelic emerald blue gown.
Rami touched on his career humbly, “It’s a phenomenal accomplishment. I’ve been thinking about every moment up to now and there’s going to be a retrospective on my career and I just couldn’t see this coming years ago. I think all you ever want to do is have a job in this business and to come this far and receive this acknowledgement tonight is huge. Seeing all these fans, this is new to me. It shows the maturation of what I’ve been able to accomplish.”
Rami then sat down with The Hollywood Reporter’s awards columnist, Scott Feinberg.
The conversation started out with Rami’s life story and introduction to the world of acting. As a first generation American with parents hailing from Egypt and Greece, growing up in Los Angeles was not easy. Rami joked about being bullied in elementary school for being the only one without a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. He begged his parents, “Stop packing the Mediterranean sandwiches – no one eats them!” At least he had someone to back him up at school – his twin brother, Sami.
After attempting to join the debate club in high school – since his immigrant parents expected him to take advantage of the wealth of opportunity in America and become “a doctor, lawyer or politician” – Malek was pointed in a new direction and caught the acting bug at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks.
Acting alongside classmates such as Kirsten Dunst, Rami found his place in theater. Although intimidated to act in front of his parents, he worked up the courage to ask them to come to his first performance where they sat right in his eye line. “I had this moment with my Dad where I saw him getting emotional for the first time in my life,” and he said to himself, “Alright, I think we’ve figured something out.”
His interest in drama grew and culminated with his visit to the University of Evansville where he pursued theater, “I saw Merchant of Venice that night and it blew me away and I was like, ‘Oh my god, I’m going to be in Southern Indiana for the next four years.’”
Following college, Rami moved to New York, then back home to Hollywood where he sent his headshot out to everyone. “Every morning I would just wake up and stuff these manila envelopes over and over again. Take them all over the city. Leave them everywhere. I was literally littering Los Angeles.” Until one day, he finally got a call back from a casting director, “She said, ‘Can I speak to Rami Malek’s agent?’ and I said, ‘Speaking.’ She said, ‘So do you have an agent?’ I said, ‘Well, currently I’m representing myself, but we can work on that.’ She replied laughing, ‘Are you SAG?’ I replied, ‘We can work on that too.’”
His persuasive charm paid off when she invited him to Warner Brothers. That day Rami landed not only a callback, but his first role as a guest on Gilmore Girls as well as an agent. “My whole world changed in a matter of hours,” he gushed.
Malek’s next roles were based on his heritage over his talent as he was cast in stereotypical “Middle Eastern” roles: an Egyptian king in Night at the Museum, an Islamic American terrorist in an episode of 24, and an Egyptian Vampire in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2. Rami defied the narrative of being typecast with his breakthrough role in The Pacific, as a Cajun marine from Louisiana. He thought to himself, “Man, if I can do this – from one end of the spectrum to the other – I can probably convince people I can have a shot at playing multiple roles.” One of those roles being Freddie Mercury.
Although Malek was only 10 years old at the time of Mercury’s death in 1991, he still remembers the first time he heard the song “Bohemian Rhapsody.” After arriving on set he reflected on the title of the film, “The song itself is not just a piece of music, it’s a work of art.”
Malek was first brought on the project after meeting producers Dennis O’Sullivan and Graham King who told him, “‘We love you in Mr. Robot, we think you can play Freddie Mercury.’” Internally, Rami replied, “Something’s wrong with these guys.”
The two characters could not be more dissimilar, “Inevitably I went from wearing one costume in Mr. Robot, to about 100 in Bohemian Rhapsody. They seem like polar opposites: one human being who can command the stage like no one else and a guy who is scared to leave his computer monitor at night.” However, Malek found a correlating link in loneliness the characters both shared.
Not considering himself a dancer or singer, Malek was unsure he could live up to the presence of such a worldly performer like Mercury. However, “I said ‘yes’ right away to playing Freddie Mercury. Without hesitation, truly. And moments later I thought, ‘Okay, what have you just done?’”
Seeing Freddie for who he was underneath the super hero cape, Rami allied with him, “The only way to demystify him was to look at that human being behind that super hero.” Rami’s story is analogous to Freddie’s. Malek looked at him not just as “Freddie Mercury,” but as “Farrokh Bulsara,” a boy from Zanzibar who kids called “bucky,” a creature who “descended from the habits.” Both Malek and Bulsara were born in foreign lands, transplanted into the UK and the U.S. as children with the challenge of making a new home, facing adversity head on.
Malek touched on Farrokh Bulsara’s transformation into becoming Freddie, “He’s Freddie Bulsara struggling to discover himself, his sexual identity and eventually with the help of his band and an incredible partner in Mary Austin [played by Lucy Boynton] becomes Freddie Mercury. Somehow whatever is brewing inside of him in that period in his life allows him to get on stage and let that ignition exceed any expectation of what anyone thought he was or should be. He can see everyone in the audience, no matter how far back you are. He can look every one of you in the eye, reach you and tell you it’s okay to be exactly who you are because I’m going to be right here doing the same thing with you.”
Rami also explained how he connected with Freddie through encompassing him on screen, “A small part of me thought of the kid from Sherman Oaks whose parents were Egyptian who never thought one day he would be nominated for an Oscar. Now I’m sitting here thinking I can exceed any expectation. We all can. We all can do exactly what we’re nowhere capable of and it’s a beautiful thing.”
Not only did Rami relate to Freddie mentally, but he was confronted with the challenge of embodying Mercury’s movements as well, “In every moment of every scene I wanted to be unpredictable and spontaneous.” Hence, Malek worked with movement coach, Polly Bennett, on set. Together, they worked on every move from the very first scene shot – the fist at Live Aid was inspired by Freddie’s boxing as a child. Rami felt he owed it to the King of Queen to emulate his craft and stage presence. His ultimate goal was to “shock him [Freddie] as if he was in the room watching.”
Despite months of preparation with everything from singing to piano lessons, Rami did not expect shooting Live Aid on the first day. Yet he tackled the scene by switching gears and getting his head in the game, “Ultimately, you just have to go out there and deliver.”
Malek also gave tribute to his fellow actors on the project, calling the ensemble, “a band of brothers in a different atmosphere.” He had the arduous, daunting task of portraying Freddie Mercury, but when acting with Lucy Boynton, “Looking into her eyes I thought I don’t have to act.”
Seeing Queen’s lead guitarist, Brian May, on set every day made Rami want to give it his all and “give his best Freddie.” Malek gave it up for Queen, followed by loud applause from the audience, “Because without them we wouldn’t have the story.”
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