A lost Freddie Mercury interview from the set of I Was Born To Love You and footage of him performing with Rod Stewart are to form the basis of a new retrospective Dvd about the tragic star.
The Great Pretender will feature rare and never-before-seen footage of the Queen frontman, who died of pneumonia brought on by Aids in November 1991.
Produced and directed by life-long Queen fan and expert Rhys Thomas, the extensive archive footage is drawn from rare interviews with Mercury, concerts, video shoots and personal material, much of it being seen for the first time, along with newly-filmed contributions from fellow Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor, Queen manager Jim Beach, soprano Montserrat Caballe, composers David Arnold and Mike Moran and lyricist Tim Rice.
Highlights include Mercury and Stewart singing their demo for Take Another Piece of My Heart, an unreleased song from 1984, a snippet of the unreleased Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury collaboration There Must Be More To Life Than This, and footage of the singer with the Royal Ballet in 1979, which has never been seen in full before.
Rhys' extensive scouting for lost material also turned up a copy of the band's first TV appearance among the belongings of late comedian DICk Emery and unearthed Mercury's earliest filmed interview from 1976.
The Great Pretender will be released on Dvd in September (12).