Sacha Baron Cohen says that he pulled out of a Freddie Mercury biopic because he felt the remaining members of Queen didn't want him to tell Mercury's story.

Cohen was tied to the project in 2010, but pulled out in 2013 over disputes with the band.

"There are amazing stories about Freddie Mercury," he said in a previous interview. "The guy was wild.

There are stories of little people with plates of cocaine on their heads walking around a party." However, Cohen learned that these stories would not make the film. "They wanted to protect their legacy as a band."

"A member of the band—I won't say who—said, "You know, this is such a great movie because it's got such an amazing thing that happens in the middle of the movie."

And I go, "What happens in the middle of the movie?" He goes, "You know, Freddie dies. ". . . I go, "What happens in the second half of the movie?" He goes, "We see how the band carries on from strength to strength."

I said, "Listen, not one person is going to a movie where the lead character dies from AIDS and then you carry on to see how the band carries on."