During an appearance on the BBC One magazine show,
The One Show, on Friday evening,
Queen drummer Roger Taylor revealed that Whishaw was the person they wanted, following the
departure in July of Sacha Baron Cohen from the project.
As reported by Digital Spy, Taylor teased the show's presenters, Alex Jones and Chris Evans, about who he and his band mates' preference was to take now on the role, by giving the initials, "BW". When Jones suggested it was Ben Whishaw,
Taylor replied: "Well, we hope so."
Whishaw, 33,
took over the role of Q for the most recent James Bond movie,
Skyfall (2012), a part he is expected to reprise. His many other films include
The Trench (1999),
Layer Cake (2004),
Perfume (2006),
Brideshead Revisited (2008),
The Tempest (2010) and
Cloud Atlas (2012).
No stranger for portraying musicians, in 2006, he played Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones in
Stoned.
Television dramas have included
Criminal Justice (2008),
The Hour (2011–12) and
The Hollow Crown: Richard II (2012),
for which he won Best Male Actor Award at this year's BAFTAs.
In 2004, at the age of just 24, he played Hamlet in Trevor Nunn's Old Vic staging of the William Shakespeare play. Other stage work has included
...some trace of her (2008) at the National Theatre and
Cock (2009) at the Royal Court Theatre. It was
announced recently that he would be appearing together with Colin Morgan, Rupert Grint, Daniel Mays and Brendan Coyle in Ian Rickson's revival of Jez Butterworth's Olivier Award-winning comedy,
Mojo at the Harold Pinter Theatre.
In the summer, Whishaw was tipped as a favourite to succeed Matt Smith as the Doctor in the BBC's long-running TV sci-fi drama series,
Doctor Who, but
ruled himself out, saying that while he wouldn't mind taking on the role, "I don't think you can be Q and Doctor Who."
Whishaw
is married to the Australian composer Mark Bradshaw.
Freddie Mercury died in 1991 at just 45 years old.
