The biopic of Queen frontman Freddy Mercury is now targeting British actor, Ben Whishaw for the lead role.

'Ali G' star, Sasha Baron Cohen, was closely attached to the film since it was announced back in September 2010 but the remaining members of Queen, who are producing the film, thought his presence would be "very distracting" in the lead role.

Legendary guitarist, Brian May, recently spoke to Classic Rock magazine about Baron Cohen leaving the project, "in the end we felt that his presence in the movie would be very distracting," May said.

"What led us to that conclusion was 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," he added.

"You have to really suspend that disbelief - the man who plays Freddie, you have to really believe is Freddie. And we didn't think that could really happen with Sacha".

This decision is questionable as the 42 year-old comedian has a striking resemblance to Mercury and is a proven singer from his role in the film adaptation of 'Les Misérables'.

Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon have set their eyes on 'Skyfall' star, Ben Whishaw. Taylor appeared on BBC's 'The One Show' and let slip that the actor who they want has the initials BW and when host Alex Jones asked if it was Ben Whishaw, he replied "Well, we hope so".

The gay actor is no stranger to portraying musical legends, he already has played Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards in the 2005 film 'Stoned'.

The biopic will focus on the band around 1985, in the Live Aid era when Queen played at Wembley Stadium.

Ben Whishaw
Whishaw is frontrunner for Mercury role

Sasha Baron Cohen
Sasha Baron Cohen was attached to the role since 2010