When you’re in the middle of a crisis or a distinct moment of your life that will shape your future, you’re hardly ever aware at that time. It isn’t until you’re able to take a breath and reflect that the true nature of the situation is revealed. Apparently, that extends to making films, as well. Because for actress Lucy Boynton, her experience as one of the stars of “Bohemian Rhapsody” might have been rocky while in production, but she’s now able to look back on it fondly.
You likely remember the issues surrounding the Oscar-winning film. Specifically, everyone remembers how Bryan Singer was famously fired from the set after what was described as erratic, and perhaps violent, behavior. This also coincided with the filmmaker’s most recent sexual assault allegations that have seemingly blacklisted Singer, at least for the time being. And for Boynton, she admits (via IndieWire) that times on the ‘Rhapsody’ set were rough, but she’s able to now look back at the good times, particularly with the cast and the replacement filmmaker Dexter Fletcher.
“More and more, that whole film experience is colored by the cast and those people that we’re all still in touch with,” the actress said. “I mean, the fact that we have full ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ reunions — minus one — as frequently as we do speaks volumes, for the material that everyone believed in so authentically, everything that everyone put into it, and that it was a coming together of those people and that cast.”
She added, “I’m so deeply nostalgic for the beginning of this year and for that time — not so much for the filming — but that shared experience with those humans.”
But the Singer controversy was only the beginning of the criticism lobbed at “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Outside of the cast’s performance, led by an Oscar-winning Rami Malek, technically, people picked apart ‘Rhapsody,’ particularly with the editing. However, according to Boynton, the editing process was incredibly smooth.
“Dexter Fletcher and Denis O’Sullivan were in the editing room, thankfully, and those people I trust with my work absolutely, undeniably,” she explained. “Had it been slightly different, it would have been different. But most of my stuff was directed by Dexter. And Dennis O’Sullivan…kept such an open dialogue with us while editing that I had never experienced before. It felt [like] a collaborative process, and nothing was being hidden or taken from anyone.”
Boynton would go onto explain that Malek, himself, had a fair amount of input in the editing process.
So, while it appears that everyone seems to be coming around to the idea that Bryan Singer was the cancerous lump on ‘Rhapsody’ that was in desperate need of extraction, the feeling on set, particularly when Fletcher took over, was a lovefest.
