Rami Malek says that his work on Bohemian Rhapsody influenced his villainous role in No Time To Die. The release of the 25th Bond film is quickly approaching, with Daniel Craig returning as 007 for one final time and director Cary Joji Fukunaga taking a stab at the series.
Malek began acting in 2004, with the actor taking on small roles, including Ahkmenrah in the Night at the Museum trilogy. The actor began getting much more attention when Mr. Robot premiered in 2015, which won two Golden Globes while on the air for four years. Malek is of course now most known for playing Freddie Mercury in the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, which he won an Oscar for this year. Malek’s role in No Time to Die is arguably going to be one of the biggest roles of his career, and he now says that his Oscar-winning performance has helped him prepare to take on 007.
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Malek recently spoke with Empire about becoming the Bond villain known as Safin. Malek explained that when he took on the role, he didn’t want to completely copy the performance of a previous actor, but make the character his own. He said that he wanted the character to feel original, something he learned from studying Mercury. Malek’s full quote can be read below:
“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? 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.”
While Malek is a new character being added to the film, there are plenty of familiar faces returning for No Time To Die. Series regulars like M (Ralph Fiennes), Eve Moneypenny (Naomie Harris), and Q (Ben Whishaw) are all returning for Craig last outing as Bond. Léa Seydoux will also be reprising her role as Dr. Madeleine Swann, as will Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter. Many fans were speculating whether Spectre‘s villain Blofeld would be returning for No Time to Die, and the first trailer confirmed that Christoph Waltz is returning as Blofeld.
With the success that Bohemian Rhapsody, it doesn’t come as a surprise that Malek is letting the unique role of Freddie Mercury influence Safin. After all, fans no doubt want to see a unique villain face off against Bond for Craig’s final outing. It’s currently believed that Malek is playing an original villain for No Time to Die, and his recent comments certainly make that seem like it is the case.
Source: Empire
- No Time to Die/James Bond 25 (2020) release date: Apr 08, 2020
