Bryan Singer Fired from Queen Biopic
Bryan Singer was today, Monday 4th December 2017, fired from his position as director on the upcoming Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody by the film’s studio 20th Century Fox.
Production was initially halted on the 1st of December, citing Bryan Singer having “sudden unexpected unavailability”, and it has now emerged that this was the result of “on-set chaos” caused by the director unexpectedly disappearing from set and acting disrespectfully towards star Rami Malek and others.
It is being reported by The Hollywood Reporter that Singer threw an object at Malek (who will play Queen front-man Freddie Mercury in the biopic) after a heated argument regarding Singer’s ongoing unexplained absences, and despite the pair reconciling shortly after it has been established that Singer did not return to the London set after Thanksgiving, leaving cinematographer Thomas Newton Sigel to direct numerous days’ worth of footage.
It is said that British filmmaker Tom Hollander, who is set to play Queen manager Jim Beach, was so appalled by the director’s behaviour that he actually quit the production in protest, but has since re-joined the cast.
Bryan Singer, known for directing The Usual Suspects, Superman Returns and a host of X-Men movies, has reportedly claimed that he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the confrontations, but studio 20th Century Fox look set to press on with naming a new director for the remaining 2 weeks of principle photography.
This isn’t the first time that Singer has been put under the microscope for problematic behaviour, the director being accused of asking teenage boys to shower nude for a scene in Apt Pupil (per reports), and reportedly creating a culture of drug use and verbal confrontations on the sets of his X-Men films. He is a BAFTA nominee (for The Usual Suspects), César nominee (for The Usual Suspects), and two-time Empire Awards Best Director nominee (for X-Men and Superman Returns).