Last week they confirmed that lesser-known actor Ben Whishaw � who played Q in James Bond movie Skyfall � will take on the role of Mercury, and the film will be produced by Dexter Fletcher.

Now May tells Rolling Stone: "There was a story put out that Sacha had walked out in disgust, but none of that was true. We parted amicably � we're still in touch and we're still good friends.

"We just came to the conclusion that it wasn't going to work with Sacha in the leading role. He's brilliant; but we felt having him in there would be distracting because he's such a powerful persona."