Director Bryan Singer was fired from the upcoming Queen biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, the Hollywood Reporter reported on Monday, December 4.
“Bryan Singer is no longer the director of Bohemian Rhapsody,” the studio said in a statement to THR.
The publication adds that the decision to remove Singer from the project, which stars Rami Malek as late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, was caused by Singer not showing up to the set and a divide between the director and Malek.
The Mr. Robot star, 36, reportedly complained to Twentieth Century Fox about Singer’s “unreliability and unprofessionalism.”
THR also claims Tom Hollander briefly quit the movie because of Singer, but eventually returned to the set to continue playing Queen manager Jim Beach.
Singer, who is best known for producing and directing the X-Men series, reportedly did not return to the set in London after Thanksgiving break, which led to a production shut down on Friday, December 1.
“Twentieth Century Fox Film has temporarily halted production on Bohemian Rhapsody due to the unexpected unavailability of Bryan Singer,” the studio said in a statement to THR on Friday.
In a statement to BBC on the same day, Singer’s rep said, “This is a personal health matter concerning Bryan and his family. Bryan hopes to get back to work on the film soon after the holidays.”
Singer has recently been in the news in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein sex scandal. The producer was previously accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old boy in 1999 (allegations he denied). After the Weinstein sexual misconduct allegations surfaced in October, actress Evan Rachel Wood tweeted, “Yeah, let’s not forget Brian Singer [sic] either.”
Jessica Chastain also shared an article about Singer’s past allegations last month on Twitter and wrote, “Let us not forget.”
Bohemian Rhapsody is scheduled to hit theaters on December 25, 2018.
