Last fall, Bryan Singer was fired from his directorial duties on 20th Century Fox' Freddie Mercury biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” due to his erratic on- and off- set behavior, which included not showing up on set on numerous occasions. Singer was replaced by actor-turned-director Dexter Fletcher (“Eddie the Eagle” ), despite more than half the film already shot and in the can. A question that has been looming around for months now is whether or not Singer will nab final credit on the film since Singer was essentially fired when not much was left in the shoot.
Well, we just got an answer to our question. The new issue of Empire Magazine [via Collider] is indeed saying that Bryan Singer will be credited as director of "Bohemian Rhapsody." Fletcher had previously mentioned that he wasn't necessarily looking for a credit when he came onboard the production, so it seems like there won't be any legal battles occurring for the director's nod.
Producer Graham King, again in Empire Magazine, elaborated further, saying Singer needed to leave the film for personal reasons:
“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.”
King goes on to say that Fletcher shot 16 days of footage, and essentially completed the film for Singer.
Fletcher was the original director of the film, back when Ben Whishaw (“Skyfall”) was supposed to play Mercury. He left the project in 2014 over "creative differences." Singer was fired after failing to show up on set after Thanksgiving break. Before that, he was fighting with his stars, including an incident involving the throwing of a metal object towards lead actor Rami Malek. The director later released a statement with his own side of the story, blaming his on-set disappearance on the illness of one of his parents, as well as Fox's refusal to give him two weeks off.
“Bohemian Rhapsody stars Rami Malek as Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, his co-stars include Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joseph Mazzello, Aiden Gillen, Tom Hollander, and Mike Myers. The film is due for release on November 2.