In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Queen guitarist Brian May revealed that the Freddie Mercury biopic, a project 12 years in the making, is very close to being officially announced.

“It’s actually happening,” May told the magazine, “…I think we’re very close now to an announcement…”

In 2013, actor Sacha Baron Cohen dropped out of the project leaving the role of Freddie Mercury open. Queen’s Roger Taylor later revealed, “In the end, we felt that Sacha, brilliant, subversive comedian though he is, wasn’t really at heart an actor. We didn’t want to make it funny. We wanted a brilliant actor who was going to move people in both directions, to tears and laughter and joy.”

Rami Malek is now slotted for the role of Mercury and Brian May approves.

“We have Rami Malek as our Freddie, who I think will be incredible. He has a great presence, and he’s utterly dedicated to the project, which is wonderful,” May told Rolling Stone.

While Brian May and the rest of the surviving members of Queen will be supervising the music, they are mostly staying out of the making of the film, intending only to “shepherd it to the right place,” explains May.

Queen + Adam Lambert are currently on their summer tour which hits the U.S. in August.

Brian May is also working on a book, a combination biography and photo book, due out next month.

Read more at Rolling Stone.