Bryan Singer FIRED Off Queen Biopic Bohemian Rhapsody

IMAGE VIA JULIAN PARKER/ GETTY IMAGES

Bohemian Rhapsody, the Freddie Mercury biopic, will be on plenty of people’s “Films to see in 2018” lists, but since the weekend it was also been revealed its surprisingly one of the most troubled productions too.

The Queen-related film closed production last week after the film’s director Bryan Singer (the man behind the X-Men films) went AWOL failing to return to London after Thanksgiving. It led to a spokesperson for the filmmaker said he was struggling with “personal health matter”.

Singer’s representatives added he was hoping to return to work on Bohemian Rhapsody “soon after the holidays”, but studio heads at 20th Century Fox couldn’t hold production for that length of time.

So yesterday (Monday 4th December) a studio spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter “Bryan Singer is no longer the director of Bohemian Rhapsody.”

THR went on to reveal the film’s production has been tricky from the beginning with the main issue being Singer continuously on-set issues with the film’s star Rami Malek, this included things such as Singer throwing objects at the actor. However, the trade also stated the two had settled their differences.

Malek, who stars as Mercury, complained to the studio criticising “Singer for not being present on set, unreliability and unprofessional.”

Rami Malek is Freddie Mercury in this 'Bohemian Rhapsody' first look: https://t.co/MEBDvQymdB pic.twitter.com/z7N5OCWHuK

— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) 6 September 2017

Singer was a repeated no-show on set and these repeating missing’s resulted in cinematographer Thomas Newton Sigel stepping in on several occasions to helm the project.

The filmmaker’s poor behaviour led to Tom Hollander, who plays Queen manager Jim Beach, briefly quitting the film, before being persuaded to return.

By all accounts, this isn’t the first the director has done this and was warned by both Fox Film chairman and CEO Stacey Snider and Fox Film vice chairman and president of production Emma Watts about his unprofessional behaviour. The Director Guild of America also sent a representative to the set to monitor the situation.

The crazy thing this film had two weeks before wrapping principal photography and the studio will add more time to their new director, which they’re expected to name within the next few days.

The plot thickens as Singer sent a statement to THR after the original story came out.

IMAGE VIA GETTY IMAGES/ VCG

“Bohemian Rhapsody is a passion project of mine. With fewer than three weeks to shoot remaining, I asked Fox for some time off so I could return to the US to deal with pressing health matters concerning one of my parents.

“This was a very taxing experience, which ultimately took a serious toll on my own health. Unfortunately, the studio was unwilling to accommodate me and terminated my services. This was not my decision and it was beyond my control.

“Rumors that my unexpected departure from the film sparked by a dispute I had with Rami Malek are not true. While, at times, we have creative differences on set, Rami and I successfully put those differences behind us and continued to work together until prior to Thanksgiving.

“I wanted nothing more than to be able to finish the project and help honour the legacy of Freddie Mercury and Queen, but Fox would not permit me to do so because I needed to temporarily put my health, and the health of my loved ones, first.”

While I have nothing but sympathy for Singer for his and his loved ones health and glad to see he stood up against the studio to ask for some time off. I can’t help but think he could’ve asked after he finished filming as shooting would’ve finished before Christmas takes a hold in the UK.

Because if they did give him the time, filming would’ve likely started the first week of January post-New Years due to the on-off time period of the UK timetable. So I can understand Fox’s position he doesn’t have time before Xmas to take off and it gives them a full year to edit the film, where I’m sure they would’ve given time to look after himself and his loved ones.

Additionally, if he was continually going AWOL then the studio didn’t have a choice.

Bohemian Rhapsody is expected to hit US cinemas on Christmas Day, 2018.