At the 2019 Golden Globes, the cast and crew of Bohemian Rhapsody desperately wanted to talk about anything but the dramatic firing of the film's original director.
20th Century Fox removed Bryan Singer in the middle of production, reportedly due to his on-set behavior, per The Hollywood Reporter. This was only the latest in a long series of controversies for Singer, who has faced lawsuits for alleged sexual assault. Singer has denied all of the allegations and has not been charged.
Despite being fired, Singer is still the credited director on the film, making for an awkward situation as the movie's cast and crew danced around his name while taking their victory lap after the film won Best Motion Picture — Drama. Singer never came up during star Rami Malek's acceptance speech, nor when producer Graham King took the stage to accept the film's award.
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Backstage, the cast and crew faced multiple questions about Singer but clearly had no interest in engaging with the issue. The second question asked in an interview was about how big a hurdle Singer's firing was and whether the award is being shared with him, a question King dodged by saying it's "not something I really should talk about tonight."
Another reporter immediately followed up to ask whether the film's creators did not feel compelled to talk about Singer on stage. At this point Malek chimed in and expertly changed the topic, saying, "There's only one thing we needed to do, and that was to celebrate Freddie Mercury." King added that "every single person" that worked on the film did so "out of the passion of making this story," which would presumably include Singer.
Singer himself celebrated the movie's win in an Instagram post, writing, "What an honor."
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