The team behind the upcoming Freddie Mercury biopic insist the film is "very much alive" despite Sacha Baron Cohen exiting the lead role.
Screenwriter Peter Morgan, who penned the script for the film, recently indicated the movie was "probably not going to happen" after the 'Les Miserables' star quit amidst creative differences with the surviving members of Queen - the band Mercury fronted - but insiders insist this is not the case.
Moviemakers denied the movie had hit a roadblock in a statement to BBC News, which wrote on Twitter: "Makers of the Freddie Murcury biopic tell the BBC the film is 'still very much alive' despite writer Peter Morgan's claims to the contrary. (sic)"
Cohen, who was fellow Queen rocker Brian May's first choice to play the late singer, departed the project in July following alleged clashes with May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon about the film's direction.
The actor reportedly wanted to make a 'gritty tell-all' movie about the gay singer, who died in 1991 following a long battle with AIDS, while the surviving members of Queen wanted a more family-friendly tale.
The 'Bruno' star had been attached to the lead role since 2010, and more recently, 'Gossip Girl' actress Blake Lively was linked to play Mercury's former girlfriend Mary Austin.
Tagged in Freddie Mercury Sacha Baron Cohen Peter Morgan