Ben Whishaw as Freddie Mercury in Biopic Movie? Surviving Queen Band Members Want 'Skyfall' Actor for Film Role

Earlier this year, the Freddie Mercury biopic hit a snag when Sacha Baron Cohen dropped out of the film project. According to the surviving members of Mercury's band, Queen, the actor was not the right fit for the iconic frontman. But now Queen has revealed that they want Ben Wishaw (Skyfall) to portray the eccentric singer in this project.

Roger Taylor, Queen's drummer, recently revealed the band's casting hopes for this movie project in an interview with BBC's The One Show. When asked if he and the other surviving members had an actor in mind for the role of Freddie Mercury, Taylor responded, "B.W." When pressed about the initials, asking if they stood for Ben Wishaw, Taylor answered: "Well, we hope so."

Wishaw is one of the most sought-after young talents acting today. He was portrays Q in Skyfall and most likely the upcoming James Bond films to follow and was featured in Cloud Atlas as well. Wishaw is also no stranger to musical biopics considering he portrayed Keith Richards in Stoned and Bob Dylan in I'm Not There.

Ben would be replacing Sacha Baron Cohen who apparently rubbed Queen the wrong way.

"What led us to that conclusion was the last three movies that he's made - The Dictator, Les Miserables and Hugo - in which he makes outstanding performances, but they're very much Sacha Baron Cohen performances," legendary Queen guitarist Brian May said earlier this year. "And we thought there has to be no distraction in the Freddie movie. You have to really suspend that disbelief - the man who plays Freddie, you have to really believe is Freddie. And we didn't that could really happen with Sacha."

May added: "That's not any criticism of his talent whatsoever, it's just a feeling that it was not going to work - that the pieces didn't fit together anymore. But we parted company on very good terms."