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Bohemian Rhapsody star features in first look at emotional new drama that ‘took 15 years’ to craft
Helmed by Passages director Ira Sachs.
mk2 Films/YouTube
- George Griffiths
Published: Monday, 18 May 2026 at 12:40 pm
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The first-look at Bohemian Rhapsody star Rami Malek in an emotional new queer drama that’s about to debut at the Cannes Film Festival has been unveiled.
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Malek, who won the Oscar for best actor for his portrayal of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in the 2018 biopic, stars in The Man I Love alongside Tom Sturridge (The Sandman), Rebecca Hall (The Prestige), Luther Ford (The Crown) and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear).
Directed by filmmaker Ira Sachs, from a screenplay Sachs co-wrote with Mauricio Zacharias, The Man I Love follows actor Jimmy George in 1980s New York as he prepares to take on what could be his final role.
As unveiled by Deadline, the first look for the film sees Malek’s George showing off his acting chops to an assembled party of friends, where he imitates famous Western icon John Wayne.
A synopsis for the film reveals that the film captures George "[living in an] extraordinary moment between great illness and death when, still, all beauty and love is possible".
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The film, Sachs’s third in three years, is due to premiere at Cannes this Wednesday (20 May), where it’s nominated for both the Palme d’Or and Queer Palm.
Filmed in New York over 28 days last year, Sachs has said that preparation for the film actually took 15 years in total, with the story itself inspired by French director Maurice Pialat’s 1991 biopic Van Gogh, set in the final few months of the painter’s life, where his death was imminent.
"In that period [of his life], he lived and chose to live with such commitment to the creation of art,” Sachs said of the influence in his director’s note to the film. "That was the kind of film Mauricio and I decided to write: one in which death is present, but in actuality, nobody actively dies; they actively live."
The Man I Love is Malek’s first big film of 2026, following his starring role in last year’s post-World War II drama Nuremberg, and flashy appearances in Christopher Nolan’s 2023 Oscar-winning Oppenheimer and as mysterious villain Safin in 2021’s No Time to Die, the final film to star Daniel Craig as James Bond.
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Co-star Ebon Moss-Bachrach is preparing for the launch of Avengers: Doomsday this December, in which he’ll appear as The Thing alongside his Fantastic Four co-stars Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby and Joseph Quinn.
Fans of his comedy-drama The Bear also got a surprise new episode recently; ahead of the acclaimed series' fifth season starting 25 June, a special prequel episode starring Moss-Bachrach and Jon Bernthal.
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