Filmmaker Dexter Fletcher came very close to giving Rami Malek's Freddie Mercury a cameo in Elton John's biopic 'Rocketman'.
'Bohemian Rhapsody' and 'Rocketman' have many overlapping common elements, connecting the two films. Fletcher, who directed the former film after the original director Bryan Singer was fired halfway through the process, helmed 'Rocketman' in its entirety.
Another point of commonality is that both films used their subjects' music as the soul of the stories and feature LGBTQ protagonists.
But most significantly, the two films feature John Reid, a real-life character who managed both Queen and Elton John at the peak of their careers.
Flirting with this very common string, Fletcher thought of adding Freddie Mercury's special appearance in John's biopic.
"There was an idea I had (at) one point, where Elton's in a restaurant with his mother. I thought John Reid and Freddie could be at another table and they wave at each other!" Entertainment weekly quoted Fletcher's interview with Gay Star News.
However, he finally decided against it. "That would have been amazing, (but) it didn't come to pass. It would've been a little too knowing. I'm not looking to set out to make a cinematic universe," the filmmaker asserted.
'Bohemian Rhapsody', which hit the theatres last year, is a biopic based on the life of Freddie Mercury, who in the film is played by Rami Malek. The film, after a massive success on box office, successfully ended collecting a couple of Oscars.
On the other hand, the Taron Egerton starrer film, which is scheduled to release on May 31, follows John's journey starting from a young piano prodigy named Reginald Dwight to a rockstar struggling with addiction who finally finds his way to sobriety.
The biopic will release on May 31.
( With inputs from ANI )