Rami Malek Hesitated to Star in Ira Sachs’ Gay Drama ‘The Man I Love’ After Playing Freddie Mercury: ‘I Had to Address the Fear’

May 21, 2026 6:04am PT Rami Malek Hesitated to Star in Ira Sachs’ Gay Drama ‘The Man I Love’ After Playing Freddie Mercury: ‘I Had to Address the Fear’

By Angelique Jackson

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Angelique Jackson

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Festival des Cannes/Getty Images for Kering/Everett Collection

Rami Malek had been itching to work with Ira Sachs for some time — going as far as to ask his representatives to get him a meeting with the filmmaker. But when he got the script for Sachs’ next movie, “The Man I Love” — about a New York theater performer navigating life, love and his devotion to his art after being diagnosed with AIDS — Malek admits he hesitated at first, because he was fresh from his Oscar-winning portrayal of Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

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