The journey to the screen was a long and arduous road for the recent Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. That didn't cease when the film finally went into production. As the film faced some behind the scenes turmoil after Bryan Singer was fired from the project, Eddie the Eagle director Dexter Fletcher was brought in to finish production and, as is always the case, many are curious just what parts of the finished product are the work of which director. According to Joe Mazzello, who plays Queen bassist John Deacon in the film, While Fletcher came in at the end of the process of filming, most of his work can be found earlier in the movie. Mazello says...
A lot of the scenes he did were some of the playful fun scenes near the beginning of the film and so it was really good. Everyone played to their strengths.
Joe Mazzello says that, while losing Bryan Singer as director was "weird," the cast worked with it as best they good. He also sings the praises of Dexter Flecher, saying that the new director had boundless energy, which rubbed off on the cast and made them excited to come to set.
It sounds, based on what Joe Mazzello says to EW, that Dexter Fletcher's energy was used to infuse the film itself, as some of the film's early playfulness was thanks to him. He doesn't go into specifics about what scenes he's talking about, but there is certainly a lot of early fun in Bohemian Rhapsody. From the moment that Freddie Mercury joins the bad Smile, there's a bit of silliness as the lead singer has trouble with a mic stand and then forgets the words to a song, forcing him to improv the entire thing.
Pretty much every time we see the band interacting with each other as they become superstars, it's fun. The interaction with a record executive played by Mike Myers, the retreat that resulted in the recording of the iconic A Night at the Opera album, there's fun in all of it and it sounds like the second director may have been part of the reason.
It has to be difficult when a position as big as the director changes during production. While it's not unheard of, it is a rare occurrence. While the majority of the filming of Bohemian Rhapsody had been completed, there were reportedly about two weeks left in principal photography, plus whatever reshoots were required later on. While the change could have been a serious problem, it seems like everything worked out about ass well as one could hope.
While Dexter Fletcher may have been responsible for some of the movie's most fun moments, his work was not enough to result in a credit on Bohemian Rhapsody, Bryan Singer is the only credited director on the final film.
