Rami Malek feared taking The Man I Love after Bohemian Rhapsody

Rami Malek has admitted that he felt a "certain sense of fear" in taking on The Man I Love after playing Freddie Mercury in 2019's Bohemian Rhapsody.

While the No Time to Die actor had been itching to work with writer-director Ira Sachs for some time, he was hesitant about signing up for the drama when the script came through soon after his Oscar-winning turn as the late Queen frontman.

During a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday, Malek explained that he was worried about the similarities between Mercury and his new, fictional character Jimmy George because they were both queer performers suffering from AIDS.

"When I read the script, I said, 'I can't do this. There's too many similarities. It could be problematic,'" he told reporters, according to Variety and Deadline. "There was a certain sense of fear."

"And I started to really think about what I was afraid of. Was it the similarities? Was it the singing? Was it what was going on in the period?" he continued. "I knew I had to address the fear. If there's anything Freddie taught me was (to) address the fear."

Ultimately, Malek knew that he was in "extraordinary hands" with Sachs, and the fact that the director chose him for the role encouraged him "to force myself to race into that fire".

He added, "And when I raced into it, I started to discover that these men were similar, but they were also worlds apart."

In The Man I Love, the Mr. Robot star plays a New York stage performer navigating life, love and his devotion to his art after being diagnosed with AIDS in the '80s.

With "more distance" from the projects, Malek now sees Mercury and George as "two radically different figures".

"We have a legend in Freddie, who really had a destination, whereas Jimmy is just searching for creativity and love and intimacy and joy and pleasure in every moment," he explained.

The Man I Love, which is competing for the Palme d'Or, received an eight-minute standing ovation after its premiere on Wednesday night. The film, which also stars Tom Sturridge, Rebecca Hall and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, does not yet have a release date.