Interview (Written): Anthony McCarten

The New Zealand screenwriter talks about writing Bohemian Rhapsody.

Novelist and screenwriter Anthony McCarten’s movie credits include The Theory of Everything, Darkest Hour, and Bohemian Rhapsody. In this MSN interview McCarten discusses writing the biopic of Freddie Mercury and the band Queen.

Did you actually like Queen?

I loved Queen. Always did. Their music still means so much to so many people. They were just so unique; in blending pure rock, music hall, theatre and even nursery rhymes and opera they were irreverent, inventive and playful. Before the internet, they were the kind of band whose albums you didn’t really need to buy, because you heard their music anyway, everywhere.

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There aren’t many rock biopics on your CV. Does this have anything in common with your previous work?

What it might have in common with earlier portraits I’ve done is that it features a fearless individual pursuing a dream with heroic intensity. Great lives don’t always make for great films, but Freddie’s journey had a naturally filmic shape.

The film credits you and Peter Morgan with “story by”. Did someone say, “Get the guy who’s done that other Queen and the guy who did Hawking and Churchill?”

Peter and I have never met, unfortunately. While the screenplay credit is mine alone, the shared “story by” credit is appropriate because Peter was the first of several writers to write versions of this story, and it was Peter’s idea to end the film on the Live Aid performance. It was the one element that remained consistent across all the versions, and the one aspect that everyone agreed was the fitting climax to the Freddie story.

Here is a BAFTA interview excerpt with McCarten:

For the rest of the MSN interview, go here.

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