The on-again off-again pairing of Borat and one of the biggest names in rock 'n' roll, Freddie Mercury, is reportedly on again. And off again.
A film about rock band Queen, which would likely be a defacto biopic of its charismatic lead singer Freddie Mercury, has been in development for seven years, and publicly mooted since 2010.
English comic actor Sacha Baron Cohen, best known for his characters Ali G and Borat, was widely reported to be lined up to play Mercury. But in 2013, he left the project.
However, the past 24 hours has seen a flurry of reporting suggesting SBC was back on board – and this time, not only to star in the film but also to write and direct it.
The source of those rumours appears to be a speech given by Queen's manager Jim Beach at the Artist and Manager Awards ceremony last Thursday.
According to a report in MusicWeek, "The exec also used his acceptance speech to make 'a couple of exclusive announcements' about the future of Queen, 'just to show that we have every intention of staying around and not packing it in'.
"A Freddie Mercury biopic, that's been under development in Hollywood for around seven years, has now secured its leading star. Sacha Baron Cohen, known for his Ali G persona, will write, produce, direct and star in the film."
Those comments were widely reported elsewhere, but over on the personal website of Queen guitarist Brian May, the news was being hosed down.
Posting on the awards night, and a separate report of it in Music Week, May notes that the report "doesn't mention a small joke that Jim threw in during his acceptance speech. He said that, in response to enquiries about the progress on the Freddie feature film, that Sacha Baron Cohen had been re-engaged to write, produce, and direct the film, as well as starring in all four major roles! I'm afraid some folks might have taken it seriously!"
It is of course possible that May is merely dousing expectations until the final details of an agreement are ironed out. But given the statements he made about why SBC left the project in 2013 it seems unlikely things have turned around enough to allow for a deal.
Though it was widely reported at the time that the parties had fallen out over artistic direction – with SBC wanting to craft an adult-oriented, no-holds-barred account of the singer, who died aged 45 in November 1991 from AIDS-related pneumonia, while the band favoured a PG-oriented family film – May gave a different (and frankly more believable) account.
"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," May told Rolling Stone in October 2013.
"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."
All of which leads us to believe that while Borat may yet do Freddie, it would probably take a kind of magic to make the deal happen.
On twitter: @karlkwin
