20th Century FoxRami Malek has won the award for Best Leading Actor at the 2019 BAFTAs.
Malek won the award for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in last year’s Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.
The 37-year-old actor was up against some stiff competition, but he beat Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale, Steve Coogan, and Viggo Mortensen for their roles in A Star is Born, Vice, Stan & Ollie, and Green Book, respectively.
Bohemian Rhapsody was also nominated for awards in Editing, Costume Design, Make Up & Hair, and Sound.
The film had been nominated for Outstanding British Film, however, BAFTA decided to suspend the film’s nomination in this category after its original director, Bryan Singer, was accused of sexual abuse.
In a statement released last week, the Academy said, via Radio Times:
In light of recent very serious allegations, Bafta has informed Bryan Singer that his nomination for Bohemian Rhapsody has been suspended, effective immediately.
Bafta considers the alleged behaviour completely unacceptable and incompatible with its values. This has led to Mr Singer’s suspended nomination.
Bafta notes Mr Singer’s denial of the allegations. The suspension of his nomination will therefore remain in place until the outcome of the allegations has been resolved.
Rami Malek has been tipped to take home a few awards for some time now. He won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Mercury earlier this year, while he’s currently the bookie’s favourite to win an Oscar for the role too.
Of course, Malek’s success during this year’s awards season should come as no surprise to one person in particular – Queen guitarist Brian May – who somehow knew all along the 37-year-old would take home a few trophies.
Speaking to PA, May said:
He’s incredible… without doubt he’ll be on the nominations list for an Oscar and well deserved as well. He inhabited Freddie to the point where we even started to think of him as Freddie. Really remarkable.
We’ve lived with this project for nine years and it’s incredible to see it doing so well.
It came out to shitty reviews, as some of our work has before, but the public has embraced it magnificently. Everybody gave 200%, from the actors and technicians to the production team and hair and make up, everyone.
Congratulations Rami!
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