Ben Whishaw is set to play Freddie Mercury in a biopic about Queen.

The 'Skyfall' actor will reportedly embody the band's frontman in a film which tells the story of the 'We Will Rock You' singer and his bandmates Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor's success.

The film depicts their journey to fame and culminates in Queen headlining Live Aid in 1985, however Mercury - who died from complications of AIDS in 1991- won't have his final days featured.

Deadline.com reports actor-turned-director Dexter Fletcher will helm the film while Peter Morgan is set to pen the script while the forthcoming project will be produced by GK Films' Graham King and Tim Headington.

The news comes after May - who will be involved in producing the feature film - said that he would like to see Whishaw play Mercury after the 33-year-old actor expressed an interest in the role.

He previously said: ''We've been talking to Ben and we're very keen and last time we spoke he was very keen.''

The legendary guitarist also mentioned Sacha Baron Cohen's departure from the role earlier this year after the 'Borat' star quit the project due to creative differences.

May explained: ''In the end, we felt that his presence in the movie would be very distracting.''