Ben Hardy's star is on the rise! The former EastEnders actor, who found fame as Peter Beale on the BBC soap, has landed a major role in a new Hollywood biopic based on the band Queen. He will reportedly be playing drummer Roger Taylor. It comes after Ben made his cinema debut last year in the blockbuster X-Men: Apocalypse, alongside the likes of Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy. Director Bryan Singer was apparently so impressed by the British actor that he cast him in his next project, Bohemian Rhapsody.
Ben Hardy has landed a role in a new Hollywood biopic based on Queen
Ben, 26, will star alongside American actor Rami Malek, who will play iconic singer Freddie Mercury in the biopic. "Ben caught the eye of producers and he has worked with Bryan Singer on X-Men," a source told the Sun. "After a couple of screen tests, bosses decided he was the perfect man for the job and signed him up. He's very excited. But he's got plenty of work to do before filming starts – he's even started taking drumming lessons to get up to scratch."
Bohemian Rhapsody will chat the journey of Queen, including their momentous appearance at the Love Aid concert in 1985. Sacha Baron Cohen was initially signed up to star as Freddie in the film, but dropped out last year citing artistic differences.
The former EastEnders star made his film debut in 2016 in X-Men: Apocalypse
In an interview with the Sun in 2015, Ben said he hadn't found there to be many differences between working in Hollywood and on EastEnders. He said: "Hollywood's not as glamorous as I thought. It's grungy. It's not too much of a leap from EastEnders." He also spoke about the gruelling audition process to land the role on mutant Archangel in the X-Men movie. "It was a long old process," he said. "It was tough going, so when I get the part it was a huge relief."