Whoever is tasked with handling Bryan Singer‘s PR, they might want to advise their client that now is probably not a great time to be giving interviews to TMZ. Nonetheless, the director decided to grace the tabloid with his time, and address just some of the issues swirling around him at the moment.
First on the table was Gabriel Byrne‘s recent comments that “The Usual Suspects” had to temporarily shut down production due to Kevin Spacey’s behavior. It’s a claim that Singer denies, saying the film was shot in 35 days, with pick-ups done in his backyard. The director said that the next time he runs into Byrne he’ll ask him about it, and enigmatically adds that, “Kevin was a real good support system” during the shoot, suggesting there were other problems going on. However, he demurred from the “loaded questions” about whether he’d work with Spacey again (“it depends on the project I guess”), or if the actor’s career could ever be revived.
Meanwhile, Singer holds the line that he was unfairly fired from “Bohemian Rhapsody,” once again saying that he was attending to a sick parent and that despite reports to the contrary, he and star Rami Malek are just fine.
“It’s gonna be my film. Me and Rami are cool. We had two great weeks, and then I had two instances with my mother, I had to fly back to see her in the hospital — one in the hospital, one out of the hospital — and then eventually that took a toll on me,” he explained. “And that didn’t allow me to get the best out of him and his fellow actors, that I knew I needed. I knew I needed the time off, and instead, I was summarily fired. That’s what happened.”
The director adds that while he could go after Fox legally, he probably won’t because “that’s usually not my style.” It’s also probably because he’s got something far more pressing to spend his lawyer money on.
Buzzfeed reveals that Cesar Sanchez-Guzman has filed a lawsuit claiming that Singer raped him in 2003, during a yacht party hosted by wealthy tech investor Lester Waters, when the victim was just 17 years old. According to the suit, Singer forced Sanchez-Guzman to perform oral sex before raping him. After the assault, Singer reportedly threatened to ruin his reputation.
“We are fortunate that the legislature in Washington state have interpreted to allow for survivors to bring cases later in life,” attorney Daniel Fasy said, referring to state’s laws where victims can file legal proceedings within three years of the date when they discover how the abuse has impacted them. “Often times, trauma surfaces later in life. Often times, people use coping mechanisms to avoid the drama of what happens to them when they are younger. Later, they open up a Pandora’s box of feelings when they discover that much of what they were suffering in life could be related to the abuse they suffered as child.”
Singer’s reps have said that he “will vehemently defend this lawsuit to the very end.”