Bryan Singer Will Be The Credited Director On ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’
By Hoai-Tran Bui/June 12, 2018 10:30 am EST
Could it be that there was some contention as to whose name should go on the billing after original director Bryan Singer left partway through production and was replaced by Dexter Fletcher? Perhaps at the time — but now those issues are resolved. Singer will reportedly retain his title as the director of Bohemian Rhapsody.
As revealed in the new issue of Empire Magazine (via Collider), it will be the latter. Producer Graham King explained Singer’s exit in Empire, saying the filmmaker needed to deal with personal issues:
King says Fletcher shot about 16 days’ worth of footage to finish the film. Fletcher himself had hinted as much in an Indiewire interview. “I didn’t get into it for [the credit], I was just proud to be able to be a part of it and help complete what I think is a great film,” Fletcher explained.
“Bryan Singer is the credited director of the film. Basically, Bryan had some personal issues going on. He wanted to hiatus the movie to deal with them, and the movie had to get finished. That was what it came down to… It wasn’t about reinventing the wheel. We needed someone who would have some creative freedom, but work inside a box. [Fletcher] did us a real favor.”
While 20th Century Fox’s reasons for firing Singer boiled down to his behavior on set, King’s vague references to Singer’s personal issues likely have something to do with the sexual assault allegations that surfaced days after Singer exited the project. It’s yet to be seen whether the association with Singer’s name will affect Bohemian Rhapsody’s reception, but we’ll see come November.
Bohemian Rhapsody opens in theaters on November 2, 2018.
