Funny / Bohemian Rhapsody

Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me!

• When meeting Mary's father (who happens to be deaf) on his birthday, Freddie tells Mary to thank him for the birthday cake, and...
  Freddie: And tell him that his daughter is an epic shag.
  Mary: Freddie, he can read lips.
  • Cue her dad giving Freddie a Death Glare.
• Brian's reaction to Freddie's...extravagant new jacket while waiting to meet John Reid.
  Freddie: I've got to make an impression, darling!
  Brian: You look like an angry lizard!
• During the Top of the Pops performance for "Killer Queen", Freddie, Brian, and Roger state their displeasure of having to lip-sync their performance and play with inadequate instruments.
  Roger: (mocking) "Well, this is the way things are done, we're a load of bollocks, old chap!"
  Brian: (mocking) "This is The BBC!"
  John: I'm relieved.
  Brian: (annoyed) You would be.
  John: What? Perfect performance.
  • During the shoot, one of the cameras is focused on Freddie's crotch, and the director is none too pleased, saying that no one will want to watch that.
• When Freddie starts blasting Carmen in Ray Foster's office.
  Ray Foster: It's opera.
  John Ried: Opera.
  Paul Prenter: Opera!
  John Deacon: Seems to be an echo in here!
• Ray Foster objects to the band's idea of "A Night at the Opera," by claiming that no one actually likes opera. On cue, Jim Beach and John Reid point out that they do like opera.
• Brian is rather nonplussed at Freddie wanting to add an operatic section to the song.
• Roger gets scared by a rooster when the band is visiting a farm.
• There is a shot outside Rockfield Studios of a rooster on a fence — as soon as it opens its beak to crow, we hear Roger recording the "GALILEO!!" part of "Bohemian Rhapsody".
• Roger's irritation at constantly being asked to record the "Galileo" bit over and over, higher each time.
  Roger: If I go any higher, only dogs will hear me!
  Roger (amongst a cacophony of himself singing "Galileo"): Who even is Galileo?
  • This bit after the above scene.
    Roger: My nuts feel like they're in my chest right now. Are we done?
    John: That's it, he loves you.
• During the recording of "Bohemian Rhapsody", the boys start jamming along to the song until they start losing their balance and the four collapse the recording booth.
• Brian and John take issue with one of Roger's proposed songs, "I'm in Love with My Car".
  Roger: (to Brian) How does your new song go, then? (snatches lyric sheet off the table) "You call me sweet, like I'm some kind of cheese."
  Brian: ...It's good!
  Roger: Wow.
  Brian: You know, "When my hand's on your grease gun"... that's very subtle, isn't it?
  Roger: It's a metaphor, Brian!
  John: It's just a bit weird, Roger. What exactly are you doing with that car?
  • It gets to the point where, during an argument over the quality of the song, Roger is on the verge of throwing things:
    Brian and John in unison: Not the coffee machine!
  • And Freddie's contribution to the argument: "There's only room in this band for one hysterical queen."
  • Even more, Freddie is the one to try and be the voice of reason amongst the group.
    Freddie: Children please, we could all try to murder each other, but then who would be left to record this album?
• Of course, we have to discuss the irony of Mike Myers' role as a douchebag record producer who doesn't think "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song that kids would want to 'bang their heads to'. He believes "no one will remember the name Queen", and then fast forward to Live Aid. He's sitting at his desk eating crow.
• Foster complains about the length of "Bohemian Rhapsody", and Freddie throws him the perfect answer.
  Foster: It goes on forever, six bloody minutes!
  Freddie: I pity your wife if you think six minutes is forever.
• The scene in which "Bohemian Rhapsody" is first played on the radio. Freddie tells the DJ, Capital Radio's Kenny Everett, that they're not allowed to play it, to which Kenny dubs it "forbidden fruit." He takes a look at the B-side... which is "I'm in Love with My Car", to which Freddie tells him to turn it over.
  • The scene is then followed by a montage of actual negative reviews from the time lambasting the song before it ultimately becomes a hit. Music critics really were that harsh back then.
• Roger's introduction to Garden Lodge.
  Freddie: (Spins around, revealing his iconic mustache to Roger and the audience for the first time) What do you think?
  Roger: It's... gayer?
  Freddie: Not this, darling; the house!
• Freddie tells Paul that he wants to have a party, and instructs him to "shake the freak-tree" and invite whoever falls out: Dwarfs and giants, magicians, Zulu tribesmen, contortionists, fire eaters... And priests. Because they'll need to confess.
• When Freddie tries to apologise for groping a waiter (who is actually his eventual partner Jim Hutton) clearing up after a party, he offers the waiter a beer. The waiter accepts, leaving Freddie to ask him where the beers are actually kept.
• Freddie's excuse when he's late for Brian unveiling "We Will Rock You."
  "I'm a performer, darling, not a Swiss train conductor."
• The scene where John Deacon is trying and failing to get the others to listen to the new song he's working on, and keeps getting ignored by the other three arguing. He starts to play the song's bassline, and one after another, the boys stop arguing and tell him what a great riff it is. (The song in question is "Another One Bites the Dust", which has the most distinctive and prominent bass line of ANY Queen song.)
  • A funny moment within that scene as John is playing the riff for the first time:
    Freddie: You wrote that?
    John: Gives him an annoyed "No shit, Sherlock" look.
• A brief moment of humor in the disastrous Hot Space press conference.
  Reporter: Freddie, concerning your private life: there's lots of pictures of you in the tabloids, looking drunk or ill.
  Freddie: Which one is it; ill or drunk?
  John: (Leans into the microphone) I had a cold last week, if anyone cares.
• It verges on Black Comedy but the brief scene when Freddie's trying to find the waiter Jim Hutton in the phone-book... and discovers practically dozens of people listed under that name.
  • Also the small Call-Back to it later when Freddie does manage to find Jim again.
    Freddie: Do you have any idea how many Jim Huttons there are in London..?
    Jim: I didn't want to make it too easy for you.
• Miami's Deadpan Snarker tendencies at the start of the rather tense Live Aid meeting.
  If anyone wants any tea, coffee, bladed weapons, just... just ask.
• The Call-Back at the start of the meeting to Freddie always turning up late:
  Freddie: (fidgeting) Where are they?
  Miami: They're late.
• When Freddie is trying to apologize to the band for his behavior in order to play Live Aid, Brian tells him to step outside and give them a minute. Once Freddie is out of the room and Brian's asked why, he replies, "No reason, I just wanted to."
• When Freddie mentions he fired Paul, John asks on what grounds. Freddie just gives a quick and almost smarmy "villainy" before going on.
• The morning of the Live Aid concert, Freddie's in his room rehearsing when:
  Freddie: (turning round) What are you looking at? (A pair of cats stare back at him) You think you can do better? (One cat gives him a look as if to say "You bet I can" and Freddie turns away again) Everyone's a critic...
• During the performance of "We are the Champions" at Live Aid, we randomly cut to Foster just sitting and staring morosely, drink in hand, on the line "No time for losers."
• If you know anything about the actual band, all the references to John Deacon being the most reclusive (him being given the smallest room, Freddie considering him the benchmark of "dull", none of the others knowing what he was doing before joining the band, etc.) can be this.

Meta

• Shortly after getting cast as Freddie, Rami Malek met the surviving members of Queen. However, he was unaware that they hadn't seen his demo tape as Freddie, yet. So, he had to sit in awkward silence watching them watch him emulating Freddie, hoping he'd impress them.
• Ben Hardy was so ecstatic to play Roger Taylor that he emailed Bryan Singer to ask him for the role, despite not having any drumming experience beforehand like Singer wanted. After being cast, Hardy had to spend two weeks scrambling to learn how to play drums for the song in his audition tape.
• The Live Aid concert was the very first thing filmed, which Malek suspects was to give the execs a chance to bail on the movie with minimal losses if it turned out the actors sucked.
• After being approached about portraying John Deacon, Joseph Mazzello decided look up some information on the man through Google. Upon seeing John's picture, Joe immediately phoned his mother to ask whether she was in London nine months before his birth. Don't forget Mazzello's other most famous role was the grandson of a British man.
• To mess with Ben Hardy, Rami Malek spread a rumor on set that Roger Taylor had requested Ben play the notoriously difficult drum solo in "Keep Yourself Alive" live on the day, and not only that, it was Roger's only request for the film. Upon hearing the rumor, Hardy, who had only been playing the drums for a matter of weeks at that point, simply locked himself in his trailer and refused to come out.

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