Sacha Baron Cohen to play Freddie Mercury

Sacha Baron Cohen, the British comedian who brought us Borat and Bruno, is to play Freddie Mercury in a film about the rock group Queen.

Queen guitarist Brian May confirmed the news in a BBC interview on Friday.

"We have Sacha Baron Cohen, which will probably be a shock to a lot of people, but he's been talking with us for a long time," May said.

May and drummer Roger Taylor are overseeing music in the film, to be written by Peter Morgan, the screenwriter for Frost/Nixon.

Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury, known for his powerful vocals and wild living, died in 1991 at age 45.

Baron Cohen is known for his outrageous and occasionally cringe-making antics in Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) and for his Austrian fashionista persona in Bruno (2009). He also createdDa Ali G Show for television.

The film is to follow Mercury's life up to the 1985 Live Aid concert, considered a classic rock performance, and including songs like Bohemian Rhapsody, We Are the Champions and Radio Ga Ga.

Britain's GK Films is producing with Robert de Niro and Jane Rosenthal's Tribeca production company.