Bryan Singer said in an interview with TMZ that his firing from “Bohemian Rhapsody” was not related to sexual assault allegations that have come out against the director and producer, but that the studio’s public reasoning for his firing would be “inaccurate and embarrassing.”
Singer said he was fired from the Freddie Mercury biopic because he needed to care for his sick mother, and Singer provided some clarity on that statement.
“Eventually that took a toll on me and was not able to allow me to get the best out of him and his fellow actors,” Singer told TMZ. “So I needed some time off, and instead I was summarily fired. That’s what happened. You can read about it in the paper.”
Singer told TMZ he had “no beef” with the studios or with star Rami Malek, and he spoke kindly about his replacement on the film Dexter Fletcher, but added that, “it’s my film.” Asked if he would consider suing the studio over his firing, Singer said, “There’s an option, but that’s usually not my style.”
TMZ also asked Singer about Kevin Spacey and recent comments by “The Usual Suspects” actor Gabriel Byrne that production was shut down on account of Spacey’s behavior. Singer denied this and said he was unsure why Byrne would say it. TMZ further asked whether Singer would ever work with Spacey again.
“These are loaded questions,” Singer said. “People want to hear one answer or the other. I helped launch his career, he’s an acquaintance of mine, and it depends on the project I guess.”
Singer has been accused in a lawsuit by Cesar Sanchez-Guzman in a civil lawsuit claiming he was raped by the director in 2003 when Sanchez-Guzman was 17.
“Bryan categorically denies these allegations and will vehemently defend this lawsuit to the very end. Cesar Sanchez-Guzman apparently claims that he did not remember this alleged incident from 2003 until now. Significantly, when Sanchez-Guzman filed for bankruptcy only a few years ago, he failed to disclose this alleged claim when he was supposed to identify all of his assets, but conveniently, now that the bankruptcy court discharged all of his debts, he is able to recall the alleged events. The attorney behind this lawsuit is the same lawyer who represented Michael Egan, the convicted felon who sued Bryan Singer in 2014. In the end, Egan was forced to dismiss that case once the facts came out and his story completely fell apart. Egan and his attorneys then found themselves as defendants in a malicious prosecution action brought by some of the individuals who Egan previously sued. In an apology to those individuals, Egan’s attorney acknowledged the claims that had been filed were ‘untrue and provably false.’ Notwithstanding his track record, this same lawyer is coming after Bryan again. We are confident that this case will turn out the same way the Egan case did. And once Bryan prevails, he will pursue his own claims for malicious prosecution,” Singer’s representative said in a statement obtained by TheWrap.
Check out the whole video via TMZ.
TheWrap reached out to Fox, whose spokesperson chose not to comment about the context of what Singer said about his dismissal.