New Bohemian Rhapsody Trailer Touches On Freddie Mercury's Personal Life

Rami Malek will rock you. 

20th Century Fox has released a new trailer for the upcoming Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, which stars Mr. Robot actor Malek as the effervescent and enigmatic frontman Freddie Mercury. 

The new footage features Malek's Mercury introducing himself to the members of Smile, the band that would become Queen, after lead singer and bass guitarist Tim Staffell quit. He mentions that he writes songs of his own, and before he knows it, Mercury is singing on stage with bass guitarist John Deacon (Joe Mazello), drummer Roger Taylor (Joe Mazzello), and lead guitarist Brian May (Gwimlym Lee) — and capturing the attention of one Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton). 

Looking to establish themselves as different from the rest of the mainstream music scene, the newly named Queen gets experimental when writing "Bohemian Rhapsody," with Mercury offering off-the-walls ideas for the track that catapulted the foursome into super-stardom. As one character in the trailer declares, "Fortune favors the bold."

Moreso than the previously released trailers for Bohemian Rhapsody, this one hints at Mercury's personal life, teasing relationships with both men and women, and his battle with AIDS, the illness that killed him in November of 1991. "You need to slow down, Fred," Lee's May says in the clip. Later, Malek's Mercury wonders, "What if I don't have time?"

There has been a good amount of chatter surrounding how Bohemian Rhapsody would address Mercury's sexuality and struggle with his AIDS, which was previously described in the film's synopsis as a "life-threatening illness." An updated summary, posted in the description of the new trailer as it's posted on YouTube, explicitly mentions that the film will see Mercury "bravely facing a recent AIDS diagnosis."

Some have accused the film of "hetero-washing" the famed singer-songwriter, presenting him as heterosexual rather than homosexual, bisexual, or even pansexual. Former Star Trek: Discovery showrunner Bryan Fuller once took to Twitter to express his thoughts after watching the Bohemian Rhapsody trailer that was released back in May. 

"Anyone else mildly annoyed (enough to tweet about it) that the #BohemianRapsody [sic] trailer features gay/bi superstar Freddie Mercury flirting with and twirling with a woman but no indication of his love of men?" Fuller tweeted, adding, "I feel what the trailer is doing is queer-erasure."

It's wonderful that this new footage does more to explore Mercury's sexuality, but the movie only winking and nudging at that aspect of his life likely won't be enough to sway those who are still skeptical about its potential to be great. 

For our part, we can't wait to see Malek in a "wife-beater" tank top and light blue jeans as he and the rest of the cast recreate the unforgettable Live Aid 1985 concert later in Bohemian Rhapsody. 

Directed by Bryan Singer, who was actually fired and replaced by Dexter Fletcher but will still receive full directing credit, Bohemian Rhapsody is scheduled to open on November 2.