It’s no secret that X-Men: Apocalypse was plagued by a host of problems during filming. Sophie Turner previously described her “unpleasant” experience of working with director Bryan Singer on the film. Now, Olivia Munn, who played Psylocke in the movie, is speaking up as well. In a new interview with Variety, Munn reflected on the time Singer vanished from the production for ten days.
Munn was specifically addressing her belief that male directors get more leeway in Hollywood than women directors. To illustrate her point, she recalled Singer’s sudden disappearance from Apocalypse’s Montreal set, which Singer attributed to a “thyroid issue.”
“When we shot X-Men, I never shot a huge movie like that before,” said Munn. “I didn’t know what was right or wrong, but I did know that it seems strange that Bryan Singer could check out and say he had a thyroid issue. Instead of going to a doctor in Montreal, which is a very high-level, working city, he said he had to go to L.A. And he was gone for about 10 days is my recollection. And he said, ‘Continue. Keep filming.’ We’d be on set, I remember there’s a big scene that we’d have. And we’d come back from lunch and then one of Bryan’s assistants would come up and show us a cell phone with a text message on it.”
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“And he texted to the actors, ‘Hey guys. I’m busy right now. But just go ahead and start filming without me,’” added Munn. “And we’d be like, ‘OK.’ And I never thought any of it was normal. But I didn’t realize that other people also thought it wasn’t normal. And the other people who thought it wasn’t normal would be people at high levels; people who make decisions on whether to hire this person.”
Munn went on to point out that despite Singer’s unprofessional behavior, Fox still let him helm Bohemian Rhapsody. Similar disappearing acts and on-set clashes with Rami Malek eventually led the studio to remove Singer from that movie as well. Over a year later, The Atlantic published an expose detailing Singer’s long history of sexual abuse allegations, leaving his filmmaking future in question.
Howard Bragman, Singer’s publicist, told Variety that Singer “saw doctors in Montreal and then came back to see doctors in Los Angeles. And to the best of our recollection, it only affected two days of shooting.”
Regardless, Munn’s comments fall in line with a report that Deadline published shortly after Dark Phoenix hit theaters last year. Their story also alleged that Singer repeatedly went AWOL not just on Apocalypse, but during the filming of X-Men: Days of Future Past as well. Simon Kinberg, Hutch Parker, cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel, and composer/editor John Ottman directed scenes to keep the productions on track.
What do you make of Olivia Munn’s remarks about Bryan Singer? Tell us what you think in the comment section below!
Recommended Reading: X-Men: Age of Apocalypse Omnibus
