Rami Malek was initially reluctant to take on his latest role as a gay man in the 1980s after playing Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, over fears the similarities were ‘problematic’.
Malek, who won an Academy Award for playing Queen’s frontman in the 2018 biopic, has once again sparked Oscar buzz thanks to his turn as New York performance artist Jimmy George, who is pursuing his final role while managing his AIDS diagnosis.
The Man I Love, from American indie filmmaker Ira Sachs, premiered at Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday night to an eight-minute standing ovation, in which an obviously touched Malek became tearful.
It stars Tom Sturridge, Rebecca Hall, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and The Crown breakout actor Luther Ford – but its 45-year-old lead was initially fearful over accepting the role.
Talking in a press conference at the Palais des Festivals on Thursday, attended by Metro, Malek initially brushed off being asked to comment on the Oscar speculation before addressing the similarities between the roles.
The award-winning star explained: ‘At first, when I read the script, I said: “Oh, I can’t do this, there are too many similarities [with Frieddie], it could be problematic.”
‘There’s a certain sense of fear. I started to really think about what I was afraid of – was it the similarities? Was it the singing? Was it, obviously, what was going on in the period? And I knew I had to address the fear.’
Reflecting on what he learnt from his time playing Freddie, he said it was to’address the fear’.
He continued: ‘But if there’s anything I learnt from Ira as well is [that] he makes unique cinema unlike any other and I knew I was extraordinary hands.
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‘And if he was choosing me, I could rely on him. Not only to depend on him throughout the film, but to elevate it, push myself and force myself to race into that fire.’
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After he decided to embark on the project, he realised that, despite the similarities, these men were also ‘worlds apart’.
As he explained: ‘We have an icon, a legend, in Freddie, who really had a destination, whereas Jimmy is just searching for creativity and love and intimacy and joy and pleasure in every moment.’
He concluded: ‘Was it ever going to be perfect? It didn’t have to be. It was just about this element of creating and living and joy, and New York in that period is a very different time.
‘And it’s an entirely different experience of a man in that period, so you could draw similarities, but I see them as two radically different figures altogether, especially as I have some more distance from [them both].’
Later, the screenstar discussed how he leaned on others to help him through the ‘insecurity’ the role came with, even ringing up filmmaker Ira Sachs ‘in the middle of the night’ as they joked.
Praised the Passages creator, he revealed that stars don’t just get ‘offered’ roles after they win an Oscar.
He explained: ‘It’s not the case. We were having a meeting… and just getting a feel for one another to see if this could actually work. I just had my fingers crossed that it would and that he would appreciate me.’
Meanwhile, Ira added that he knew the film needed ‘truly a star quality’ at the heart of it because ‘there’s a whole universe which revolves around Jimmy and Rami in the film’.
As for his connection with Sturridge, most recently the lead in Netflix’s The Sandman, he recalled an emotionally intimate moment in a pub in London.
Malek explained: ‘He put his hand on top of mine and I immediately felt nurtured. I thought: “Oh that’s it, this man will take care of me”.’
Ultimately, even getting this movie over the line was an uphill battle. Sachs shared: ’25 companies said no. And David, Scott and Mike from Big Creek said yes. So just to say these stories are not easy to get made.’
The Man I Love premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2026.
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