The screenwriter of the much-anticipated Freddie Mercury biopic fears the project will be shelved after Sacha Baron Cohen's decision to walk away from the film.

Cohen reportedly fell out with the remaining members of Mercury's band Queen, who have script and director approval, and now revered writer Peter Morgan has opened up about the doomed movie.

He tells the Bbc, "It's probably not going to happen."

The film, which was originally scheduled for a 2012 release, has faced a slew of delays, but rocker Brian May assured fans last year (12) that the movie "should be ready" to hit screens in 2014.

A source close to the film has contradicted Morgan's remarks, insisting the project is "still very much alive".

Earlier this year (14), Anglo-Indian actor James Floyd revealed he was keen to reprise his portrayal of rocker Mercury in the movie biopic.

The young star played the tragic singer, who died in 1991, in British Tv movie The Best Possible Taste, and he admitted he had been approached to play the young Mercury again in the new film project.