Rami Malek reveals 'tumult' when Bryan Singer was sacked from Queen biopic

Rami Malek has spoken about director Bryan Singer’s shock departure from Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.

‘X-Men’ helmsman Singer was axed from the production last year amid rumours of being absent from the set, and also of clashing with Malek, who plays Queen singer Freddie Mercury.

Speaking to Metro, the Bad Robot star said: “It was a tumultuous set there is no doubt about it.

“And it came to a place where there was a lapse in time when our director was not present and we needed to find a new director, and I think that says it all.

“We were here to honour and celebrate this human being, and no one is getting in the way of that.”

Singer remains credited as the movie’s director, but British helmsman Dexter Fletcher was later drafted in to finish the film.

Gwilym Lee, who plays Brian May in the movie, added: “It was an unfortunate situation but we were all professionals and we all just get on with it.

“We’ve all worked on series at various times where you finish one block then work with a new director and we knew at that point, when the filming was paused, who are characters were and we knew where we were at the story, so we took it in our stride.

“[Fletcher] came towards the ends of the shoot when a lot of the scenes we had to do were intimate and personal scenes, and so he bought something else to those scenes which was really useful.”

Singer left the production in December last year, following reports of ‘no-shows’ on set, while the director countered that the movie’s producers Fox had refused to allow him time off to tend to a ‘gravely ill parent’.

“I wanted nothing more than to be able to finish this project and help honor the legacy of Freddie Mercury and Queen,” Singer said in a statement at the time, “but Fox would not permit me to do so because I needed to temporarily put my health, and the health of my loved ones, first.”

Rumours in The Hollywood Reporter detailed angry clashes between Malek and Singer, while it’s said that Tom Hollander, who plays Queen manager Jim Beach, also temporarily quit the movie over Singer’s alleged behaviour, but was persuaded to return.

The movie is out on October 24 across the UK.

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