Despite a striking resemblance to Freddie Mercury — not to mention the promise of a new opportunity to show off his, uh, acting chops — Sacha Baron Cohen has pulled out of playing Queen's famed lead singer in an upcoming biopic. Talk about a project being "Under Pressure."

Deadline reports Cohen is leaving the project due to "creative differences" with the living members of Queen (guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor) who retain complete script and director control over the film. Cohen was itching to do a saucy and salacious exposé on the controversial figure, who died from AIDS-related pneumonia in 1991, while the other Queen members are apparently shooting for a more tamed, PG approach to the story.

The disputes didn't stop with just subject matter disagreements, either. Cohen was efforting to recruit a filmmaking team of heavyweights for the project to supplement Peter Morgan ("The Queen") as screenwriter, but May and Taylor gobsmackingly did not approve of such offerings as David Fincher ("The Social Network"), Tom Hooper ("Les Mis") and others.

Pity. Cohen had been attached to play Mercury since 2010, when May was apparently thrilled to see the "Borat" star selected for the role.

To quote Queen, "The Show Must Go On." But can it? It's hard to imagine a more ideal candidate to play this guy ...

... than this guy.