I never understood the speculation that Dexter Fletcher, who took over as director of Bohemian Rhapsody last December in the wake of Bryan Singer‘s firing, might wind up with the final “directed by” credit.

Fletcher finished the Queen biopic over the course of 16 days last January, but Singer oversaw pre-production from July to September 2017 and then directed principal photography from mid September ’17 until late November, or roughly 10 weeks. How could the contribution of a two-week guy be credited more highly than a ten-week guy, not counting pre-production?

Not surprisingly, Bohemian Rhapsody producer Graham King has told Empire magazine that the directing credit will go to Singer, not Fletcher.

(l.) Bohemian Rhapsody director Bryan Singer; (r.) fill-in director Dexter Fletcher.

 From Collider‘s Adam Chitwood, quoting King’s Empire statement:

“Bryan Singer is the credited director of the film. Basically, Bryan had some personal issues going on. He wanted to hiatus the movie to deal with them, and the movie had to get finished. That was what it came down to…it wasn’t about reinventing the wheel. We needed someone who would have some creative freedom, but work inside a box. [Fletcher] did us a real favor.”

The undercurrent in the Singer removal involved concerns about inappropriate off-screen behavior a la Kevin Spacey. Everyone was presuming that some kind of allegation would blow up in the wake of Singer’s dismissal, which happened because he left the set after friction with star Rami Malek and other cast members. A sexual assault lawsuit against Singer was filed on 12.7.17. It pointed to an alleged incident that happened in 2003.