LOS ANGELES, April 28 — Twentieth Century Fox has released two strikingly realistic images of Rami Malek playing Freddie Mercury in the upcoming biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, in US theatres November 2.

Malek cuts an impressive figure in the role of Freddie Mercury, bearing a striking resemblance to the late Queen frontman in new pictures from the Bohemian Rhapsody movie, which were revealed at the annual CinemaCon event in Las Vegas.

The American actor assured the audience that the film would be an exceptional, monumental movie, before adding: "One thing I will say is when I got this role, I thought this could be a career-defining performance; about two minutes later I thought this could be a career killer.”

The film follows the life of the young British singer-songwriter and Queen frontman while also charting the band’s meteoric rise.

Twentieth Century Fox screened the first trailer for the biopic at CinemaCon, but it will not be released publically just yet.

In the works for several years, Bohemian Rhapsody has been delayed by various setbacks. When the project was announced in 2010, British actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) was lined up to play Freddie Mercury, before creative differences with the surviving members of Queen led him to pull out of the film.

It was only in late 2016 that Malek was revealed as the replacement, following rumours suggesting Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Dominic Cooper (Agent Carter) or — more seriously — Ben Whishaw (M in Skyfall and Spectre) for the film’s lead role. Just when everything seemed to be back on track, production encountered another glitch in December 2017, when director Bryan Singer was fired from the film and replaced two days later by Dexter Fletcher.

The movie is now slated for US release November 2, 2018.

Malek previously starred in the TV series Mr Robot on USA Network. — AFP-Relaxnews