Golden Globe Nominee Rami Malek, soon will be on the world’s screens as Freddie Mercury, the iconic singer of the English band Queen. Malek’s love for music and acting was put to the test and when we met for a long lead interview on the movie – appropriately titled Bohemian Rhapsody – we asked Rami how these two passions and playing the mercurial singer changed his world.

“I can just tell you right now – I drove here listening to an 80s playlist, so that was not something that I used to do that often. But there was something about working on this film. I had to listen to Queen music –  I never wanted to go in and just mimic Freddie or try to do my best impression of him or anything. I knew going into this I was going to have a hard time ever trying to say, hey, I’m Freddie Mercury. I needed to capture this man’s essence. So, what I found myself doing, was listening to things he loved. So I would listen to Hendrix, I would listen to Bowie and he was also a huge fan of Aretha Franklin. I would watch Cabaret and listen to Liza Minnelli. And then (I’d) start to put (it all) together- this is why he moves the way he does, and why he sings the way he does. These are things that now began to inform my understanding of how I was going to portray him. And in the process, I also became a huge David Bowie fan.”