New Freddie Mercury documentary to include rare footage, unreleased demo tracks

A new documentary focusing on the late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury will include a snippet of the unreleased Michael Jackson collaboration “There Must be More to Life Than This” and a demo with Rod Stewart singing the previously unreleased “Take Another Piece of My Heart,” along with a never-before-seen appearance with the Royal Ballet in 1979.

The Great Pretender, due September 25, 2012, also features rare footage from the band’s initial TV appearance, Mercury’s earliest filmed interview, and newly filmed talks from fellow Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor. The documentary was produced and directed by Rhys Thomas, who worked again with the group that created the recent BBC documentary Queen: Days of Our Lives.
Thomas found film of Queen’s initial television appearance among the belongings of the late comedian Dick Emery, and unearthed the 1976 interview with Mercury in Australia. He also found a rare talk with NBC, also filmed in 1976, as well as film from Mercury’s 39th Black and White birthday party in Munich in 1985 — footage made for the video for “Living On My Own,” and promptly banned by his record company because of its cross-dressing theme. There are also interesting video outtakes from “I Want To Break Free,” “One Vision,” “Days of Our Lives,” “I Want It All,” “A Kind Of Magic,” “Princes of the Universe,” “Living on My Own,” Born To Love You,” “Great Pretender,” “Made In Heaven,” and “Who Wants to Live Forever.”
Among the others interviewed for the documentary: soprano Montserrat Caballé, composers David Arnold and Mike Moran, lyricist Tim Rice, and comedian and lifelong fan Matt Lucas, among others. The Great Pretender, presented in high definition, will be available in DVD and Blu-ray.