A long rumored biopic seems to finally be gaining some traction. After an initial announcement nearly two years ago on Sacha Baron Cohen‘s biopic on Queen leader Freddie Mercury, we got an update late last fall that it is still going ahead thanks to producer Graham King, and now we have a new sign of life.

Variety reports a possible director for the project and one who has some Queen experience of a different kind. High Fidelity and The Queen director Stephen Frears is the reported frontrunner for the biopic, although there are others that are still in contention.

Peter Morgan, who previously worked with Frears on his biopic surrounding his majesty, wrote the initial script, but now Stephen J. Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson who also have biopic experience with Ali and Nixon, have taken the latest pass. The film will focus “on Queen’s formative years, leading up to the band’s heralded appearance at Live Aid in 1985,” but not highlight Mercury’s death in 1991.

While Fear’s upcoming film Lay the Favorite is one of the worst of the year, he has enough proven experience that he could pull this one off. While I do enjoy his comedy personations, It’ll be nice to see Cohen take on something seriously as he has more talent than just his offbeat characters.

Would you like to see Frears take this on?