The trailer for Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody was eagerly awaited by fans of Freddie Mercury and the legendary band, but also by those curious to see how the film looked after Bryan Singer was fired as director. The response was largely positive, but one thing that was clearly missing was any mention of who directed it. You saw neither Singer’s name or Dexter Fletcher, who stepped in to complete the final two weeks of shooting.
Was there some reason for the omission? Had to be, and now we know from the latest issue of Empire that it will be Singer who gets the directing credit, not Fletcher. Here’s what producer Graham King had to say…
“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.”
This is surprising only because Singer’s name has become so toxic that you’d think 20th Century Fox would want to keep it far away. Singer has been dogged by sexual misconduct allegations in the past, and his dismissal was right around the time of the Harvey Weinstein situation. On the other hand, Fletcher, who was attached to a prior version of the film before Singer came aboard, has said he didn’t do this for the credit. He only wanted to see the movie finished. Well, he got his wish. The movie’s done and he ain’t getting any credit. King said Fletcher did about 16 days of shooting, with Singer completing the bulk of it. The latter deserves credit, and this is a way for Fox to avoid an unnecessary fight with the DGA over it.
Bohemian Rhapsody stars Rami Malek and opens November 2nd. [via Collider]
