'Bohemian' Catastrophe: Will the Revelations about Bryan Singer Nix Rami Malek's Best Actor Chances?

Whoever came up with the idea of ending "Bohemian Rhapsody" with a recreation of Queen's Live Aid concert saved the film from being just a clich�d exercise in celebrity hagiography. It is that up to that point with a portrait of Mercury as a victim of fame and a manager/boyfriend who led him into the skeevier side of gay life in the 1980s, but in these final moments Malek struts and sings with such authority that on first viewing it was apparent he is the actor to beat for Best Actor.

He appears to be on that trajectory, having upset Bradley Cooper at the Golden Globes and he could very well take home the SAG award this weekend. (Whether it is he or Christian Bale may seal just who will win the Best Actor Oscar.) But the elephant in the room concerning "Bohemian Rhapsody" is its accredited, discredited director Bryan Singer, whose antics on the set led him to be fired two weeks before shooting ended. Though listed as the film's director, he has been absent in either promoting the film or in the speeches.

A number of films have won the Best Picture Oscar without a Best Director nominee ("Driving Miss Daisy" in 1989 and "Argo" in 2012), but none have won with a director who fired from filming as Singer was. (His directorial credit is due to Directors Guild of America guidelines). Whether or not this affects "Bohemian Rhapsody's" chances for Best Picture remains to be seen, but complicating matters is that confirmed what had been rumored for years: he enjoyed the sexual company of teenage boys. As reported at Vox, the report "details the Hollywood circles Singer was reportedly part of during the late '90s, the boys he met and parties he threw during that time period, the allegations of sexual assault of underage boys, and an alleged pattern of abuse that wrecked the accusers' lives. It was written by Alex French and Maximillian Potter – a writer at large and editor at large for Esquire, respectively – who say they spent 12 months reporting the story and spoke to more than 50 sources about the allegations."

Singer voraciously denied the allegations through his lawyer Andrew Brettler who stated "that Singer has never been arrested or convicted of any crime and that he categorically denies ever having sex with, or a preference for, underage men. Singer, through his lawyer, told Vox the story is a 'homophobic smear piece [that] has been conveniently timed to take advantage of ['Bohemian Rhapsody's'] success' and that it was written by 'a homophobic journalist who has a bizarre obsession with me dating back to 1997.'"

Singer is one of the most successful Hollywood directors of the past 20 years, largely due to the "X-Men" franchise; but his erratic behavior on sets in recent years made him appear a risky choice for the $60 million Queen biopic; so much so that, as the Atlantic story points out, executives at Twentieth Century Fox (who bankrolled the film) spoke sternly to Singer prior to the start of shooting in London.

"According to three sources who know what happened on and off the set," the Atlantic piece reported, "both Stacey Snider, the chairman and CEO of 20th Century Fox, and Emma Watts, Fox's vice chair and president of production, had had concerns when the project came their way with Singer already attached. But Singer had the support of the surviving members of Queen. The choice for Fox was to do the film with him or to not do it at all. According to the three sources, it wasn't an easy decision.

"Snider's concerns weren't about sexual-abuse allegations. As far as she knew, there had been only one case against Singer–Michael Egan's–and it had been dismissed. Instead Snider was worried about Singer's reputation for disappearing from sets. Before the film went into production, according to the three sources, Snider and Watts met with Singer, and Snider told him that she had two rules and that if he violated either one, he'd be fired: "Don't break the law. And show up for work."

Things, though, didn't go well on the set. Singer feuded with cast members, specifically Malik and Tom Hollander. At one point Singer ripped a video monitor off a stand and slammed it to the ground. Hollander, who plays Queen's manager, quit the film briefly and had to be coaxed back. Things came to a head in late November when Singer stormed off the set and didn't leave his hotel for four days. As reported in the Atlantic, Gregg Schneider, a now-estranged friend of Singer's, said he was "vortex of brokenness" and was unable to work. He asked Fox to discontinue shooting for a month claiming exhaustion (he claimed one of his parents was seriously ill and that was distracting him). Fox's Snider responded that she was also tired and for him to complete the film. Instead he returned to Los Angeles and abandoned the project. Fox fired him a week later, replacing him for the remaining two weeks of the shoot and the post-production with Dexter Fletcher.

Days later, it was revealed that an attorney was seeking a settlement in a civil suit for a Seattle man, Cesar Sanchez-Guzman, who alleged that Singer raped him in 2003. "Bryan kept quiet about it at the time, but I could tell something was eating him up," Gregg Schneider told the Atlantic.

Singer, though, did get sole director's credit. (Fletcher received an Executive Producer credit.) When the film unexpectedly won the Golden Globe, Singer's name was not mentioned by either Rami Malek or Graham King in their acceptance speeches (while thanking nearly 30 others). Malek praised King and King praised Malek, but at no time was Singer's name mentioned. This didn't stop Singer from an Instagram post where he congratulated for winning with a photo of himself and Malek on the set (The post was deleted.)

That the film received an Editing nomination indicates that the role that John Ottman played in putting together the footage by Singer, Fletcher and cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel who was said to have directed some scenes when Singer went missing. The problem was never the direction, it was the hambone script that turned Freddie Mercury into a quirky, oddly eccentric but extraordinarily talented frontman seemed like a character out of an old Barbra Streisand movie. How Malek brought a studied authenticity to his portrayal is why he's gone from long shot to frontrunner in the past few weeks.

But will the latest revelations about Singer hurt Malek's Oscar chances?
Not likely. As BuzzFeed wrote yesterday:

"And in a series of interviews with industry insiders and Oscar experts,
Malik's role as an adversary for Singer while shooting will likely immunize him from the Singer matter, as does Fox's PR campaign for the film, which is based on the idea of minimizing Singer's role in the final film.

Guilty or innocent, the mere whiff of such a scandal prompted GLAAD to rescind the nomination for "Bohemian Rhapsody" for a GLAAD Media Award yesterday, Variety reported.

"In light of the latest allegations against director Bryan Singer, GLAAD has made the difficult decision to remove 'Bohemian Rhapsody' from contention for a GLAAD Media Award in the Outstanding Film - Wide Release category this year. This week's story in The Atlantic documenting unspeakable harms endured by young men and teenage boys brought to light a reality that cannot be ignored or even tacitly rewarded," GLAAD said in a statement to Variety.