Dec. 5 (UPI) — Officials at 20th Century Fox fired Bryan Singer as director of the Freddie Mercury biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” on Monday after he failed to show up for work on multiple occasions.
The studio made the announcement in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
The move comes after Singer failed to return to the set last week after the Thanksgiving holiday. Fox put the production on hold starting Friday citing the “unexpected unavailability” of the director.
“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,” Fox said in a statement prior to the director’s firing.
The film has about two weeks left in shooting.
Sources told Deadline there were tensions on the set between Singer and some of the actors, including the lead, Rami Malek (Mercury) and Tom Hollander, who plays Queen manager Jim Beach.
Hollander left the production temporarily before being persuaded to return, The Hollywood Reporter said. Malek complained to the studio about Singer’s unprofessionalism, which included a spat between the two in which the director threw an object.
The studio has not announced who will take over as director of the film.
Singer made a name for himself at the helm of a number of big-budget superhero movies, including “X-Men,” “X2,” “X-Men: Days of Future Past” and “X-Men: Apocalypse.”
