Singer had a three-year first-look deal with the studio that concluded at the end of October. The deal was not renewed, but he was granted an extension allowing Bad Hat Harry to remain in the offices for the duration of the Rhapsody shoot.

However, that changed on Monday when Fox decided to terminate Singer's involvement in the film.

Singer’s firing came after tension on the movie’s London set came to a boil over his unprofessional behavior.. His tardiness and frequent no-shows resulted in heated confrontations with star Rami Malek, who is portraying Queen’s Freddie Mercury. Because of complaints to the studio, reps from the Directors Guild of America and Fox visited the London set to monitor the situation.

After what appeared to have been a reconciliation between the director and actor, Singer then pulled another disappearing act and did not return to the set after the Thanksgiving break. For the studio, which had already dealt with similar behavior on Singer's part during the making of 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse, that was the final straw.

Singer responded to his firing by saying the studio would not allow him the time to deal with the illness of a parent.

During his first-look tenure, Singer directed Apocalypse and worked on several shows, including helming the pilot for Fox TV’s X-Men spinoff The Gifted.