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27th October 2018
10:12am BST

Stating that his turn as Brian May in Bohemian Rhapsody might be the biggest role he ever gets to play, Gwilym remembers meeting Brian for the first time.
"It was such an intimidating prospect to take on such an iconic role of such a legend, someone who’s loved by so many," he begins. "It was nerve racking but he came to the rehearsal room quite early on in the process and the first thing he did was walk through the door, walk straight up to me and give me a big ol’ hug, a big ol’ bear hug. At that point it just takes the pressure off to see his excitement that the project was being made.
"He came on set quite a lot actually but only really for scenes when we were doing live music performances because that was his realm, and that’s where he could help us most - I also feel that for the more intimate and private scenes he didn’t want to interfere too much. Although Roger and he are music producers on the film I don’t think they wanted to sugarcoat the story too much, I think they wanted it to be a faithful, warts and all, telling of that tale. So he left us to our own devices when it came to that. But for the music performances he was always present and I never felt less than encouraged by him."
Remembering one scene in particular, one he says he'll never forget, Gwilym adds:
"When we were doing the Top of the Pops sequence he was stood in the wings just before my close up, and just before they yelled 'action', he just goes, 'Go on Gwil!' And I was just thinking how cool of a moment it was to turn to my side and see Brian May cheering me on. That was pretty special."
Bohemian Rhapsody is in UK cinemas now.
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