“It was immediately into research. Freddie’s former manager Paul Prenter features in new film Bohemian Rhapsody, which is portrayed by Downton Abbey actor Allen Leech. Let's find out. Bohemian Rhapsody’s make-up and hair designer talks us through it, How ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ created its audacious and uplifting Live Aid Prenter first met Mercury at a bar in 1975, according to The Belfast Telegraph, and then became his manager in 1977. “My perception is very similar to when I played a character called John Cairncross in ‘The Imitation Game,’ because he was being vilified as well. Not only does he trick Mercury into firing band manager John Reid (Aidan Gillen), but he then tries to interfere with Queen’s musical direction, before taking Mercury to Berlin, keeping him away from the rest of the band and Mercury’s best friend Mary (Lucy Boynton). EXCLUSIVE: Allen Leech has been cast in the role of Freddie Mercury’s personal manager Paul Prenter in the Bryan Singer-directed feature biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. But unfortunately for him, he won't be able to tell his side of the story. I wanted to try and garner some sympathy for him, especially once he has got fired. Instead, he sold a story to The Sun tabloid in 1987 where he revealed Mercury's sexuality, and also outed the singer's relationship with Jim Hutton, much to Mercury's chagrin, according to Slate. Nov 07, 2018 Allen Leech as Paul Prenter in"Bohemian Rhapsody" the Freddie Mercury bio-pic. For other inquiries, Contact Us. Paul Prenter is presented as the bad guy in Bohemian Rhapsody, but having worked as Freddie Mercury's manager for nearly a decade, it's hard to believe that all of those years were as contentious as the film shows. In the film, Mercury finally fires Prenter in 1985, with the main reason being that the manager failed to inform Mercury about the opportunity for Queen to perform at the now-iconic Live Aid concert. Paul died in Belfast of Aids just a few months after Mercury died in 1991. But his biggest act of villainy comes right at the end of the film. So the movie mixes up some facts regarding Prenter, possibly making him out to be more of a villain than he was in real life. At some point during this time, Prenter and Mercury had a sexual relationship — which is something Prenter later allegedly used to blackmail Mercury, who wasn't technically out of the closet at the time. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica} Prenter is gone now, but his legacy lives on in the new film. The fact that they wanted to punch me in the face was a huge compliment.”, /* >