Rami Malek On “Bohemian Rhapsody” Director Bryan Singer: “It Was Not Pleasant”
Rami Malek is up for an Oscar for his portrayal of Queen’s Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. Throwing a bit of a pall over the Oscar-nominated proceedings for Rami is the recent expose in The Atlantic about the allegations of underage boy rape against director Bryan Singer. Rami’s not a dummy and he knows if he’s going to get that golden phallic symbol, he’s going to have to make sure the Academy and the public know that he won’t be lining up to see Red Sonja on opening night. He put that out there during his appearance at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Friday.
Rami was asked about the allegations against Singer during a Q&A about Bohemian Rhapsody and his role as the late, great Mercury.
“My heart goes out to anyone who has to live through anything like what I’ve heard and what is out there,” Malek told the audience at Santa Barbara’s Arlington Theatre. “It’s awful, it’s remarkable that this happens, I can appreciate so much what they’ve been through and how difficult this must be for them. In the light of the #MeToo era that this somehow seems to exist after that, it’s a horrible thing.”
Rami stressed that life on the Rhapsody set prior to Bryan Singer’s firing for not showing up to work on the regular was a trial.
Pivoting to his own experience with the director, the star said he found it difficult to talk about because he didn’t want to take away from the focus on Mercury and Queen, but said he doesn’t “want anyone to not feel like they can share their story.”
“I’ve sat here and talked about how everyone deserves a voice and anyone who wants to talk about what happened with Bryan deserves to have their voice heard,” Malek said. “In my situation with Bryan, it was not pleasant, not at all. And that’s about what I can say about it at this point.”
A previous article by The Hollywood Reporter had some details about what allegedly went down between them.
Malek complained to the studio, charging Singer with not being present on set, unreliability and unprofessionalism.
The growing tension led to a confrontation between Singer and Malek, which, while it did not become physical, did involve Singer throwing an object.
Rami’s really going for that Oscar.
A visibly emotional Malek paused while the audience applauded, and then added, “For anyone who is seeking any solace in all of this, Bryan Singer was fired. Bryan Singer was fired, I don’t think that was something anyone saw coming but I think that had to happen and it did.”
As THR points out, Bryan Singer was fired for not showing up to work, not for anything to do with his alleged rapist behavior. Of which there’s been rumors of for like, decades, now.
Singer was fired before Bohemian Rhapsody was completed, but for not showing up to work on the film rather than for abuse allegations. The director has denied those allegations, and Malek has previously said he was unaware of claims against Singer before taking on the film.
Rami must not possess either A) access to an online search engine or B) the busybody curiosity that inspires most of us to do some online research about each and every one of our co-workers during our downtime in our cubicles.
Pic: Wenn.com