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James Bond Star Rami Malek Says Bohemian Rhapsody Influenced his No Time To Die Baddie


Playing a villain in a James Bond film might not be easy but Rami Malek claims he found some inspiration in his portrayal of Safin in the upcoming 007 movie. The Academy Award winner revealed that playing Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody helped him decide on how to tackle his next major role in No Time to Die.

Malek recently spoke to Empire about his new project and he admitted that playing the legendary musician was a huge help in how he decided to portray Safin. Amazingly, the Mr. Robot star stated that he didn't want to imitate the previous 007 villains and chose to be inspired by Mercury in tackling his new role.

"If I went in there and tried to make a carbon copy of someone, what joy or fun would that be for anybody? I guess that may be a lesson I learned from Mr. Mercury. If it's not original, then why bother?" Malek said.

Of course, that doesn't mean that Malek completely turned his back on the likes of Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Instead, he took notes from the other James Bond baddies and created a character that was wholly his own.

"I've pocketed some things from some of my favorites. But I tried to every day imbue this character with something I thought made sense for the character, but might also at the same time be shocking and unnerving," Malek said.

For now, we don't know much about Safin other than that he wears a mask and appears to have a scarred face. Hopefully, we'll get to learn more about the villain when another trailer for No Time to Die is released in the future.

No Time to Die is the last James Bond film for Daniel Craig. The movie is scheduled to premiere on April 8, 2020.

Related: No Time to Die: New Stills of Bond and Rami Malek's Safin

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