In a new interview with Howard Stern, Sacha Baron Cohen finally revealed the backstory behind leaving the Freddie Mercury biopic. Cohen worked on the project for six years, trying to portray the iconic frontman as the fascinating, deep character and personality that he was. As it turns out, the rest of Queen wasn’t quite going for that. 

As Cohen explains it, “A member of the band—I won’t say who—said, ‘You know, this is such a great movie because it’s got such an amazing thing that happens in the middle of the movie.’ And I go, ‘What happens in the middle of the movie?’ He goes, ‘You know, Freddie dies.’ I go, ‘What happens in the second half of the movie?’ He goes, ‘We see how the band carries on from strength to strength.” I said, ‘Listen, not one person is going to a movie where the lead character dies from AIDS and then you carry on to see how the band carries on.'”

Cohen also reveals he brought in writers like Peter Morgan and David Fincher, but no script impressed the band. As he described Brian May: “Great musician, but not a great movie producer.”

Listen below.