Borat is about to become the next actor to play a leading role in a biographical film about a musician, in this case, Freddie Mercury.  There is speculation that the recent spate of such biopics has been driven by overzealous Oscar-targeting by actors who can carry a tune and mimic personality quirks and who really, really want to be taken seriously.  Walk the Line, Dreamgirls, and Ray immediately come to mind.  Rocktations doesn't know whether Sacha Baron Cohen, the real-life Borat and Ali G, plans to walk away with the most prestigious award in showbiz by impersonating a musician, or if this is just another gag awaiting its punchline.  At this point, Borat seems to be only slightly above poop jokes in a world with too few good comedians.

Whatever Cohen's motivation, he overcame stiff competition -- namely, two-time Best Actor nominee Johnny Depp -- in his bid to play the late Queen frontman.  Perhaps Cohen, in the spirit of Borat, assaulted Depp, put him in a submission hold, and persuaded him to forgo his attempt at becoming the next wannabe-musician, wannabe-Oscar winner.

"The Borat star, 35, elbowed Johnny Depp from the role after winning over producers and band members."

A movie about the life of a successful, yet tragic, rock star pulls toward the formulaic.  You throw in a bunch of rock 'n' roll, drugs, groupie women (or men dressing as women, in this instance), and you have yourself a movie.  Still, it is possible for something special to emerge from these traditional modern music movie ingredients.  Time will tell whether Borat's turn as Mercury works or is just another one that bites the dust.