X-Men: Apocalypse Star Claims Bryan Singer Left Production Citing a “Thyroid Issue”

It’s difficult to isolate one single reason why X-Men: Apocalypse was a disappointment with both fans and critics, though many claims center around Bryan Singer‘s involvement, or lack thereof, for being a major setback for the production, with star Olivia Munn recently detailing the bizarre events that unfolded while filming. The actress detailed how she was unfamiliar with shooting major blockbusters and didn’t initially comprehend what made shooting the film so anomalous, with one of her bigger questions being about Singer’s absence from set being due to a thyroid issue, which he claimed required him to leave the set for more than a week at a time.

“When we shot X-Men, I never shot a huge movie like that before. 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,” Munn shared with Variety. “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.”

She added, “And he texted to the actors, ‘Hey guys. I’m busy right now. But just go ahead and start filming without me.’ 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.”

Singer is responsible for directing the first two X-Men films, which proved the success of superhero movies that didn’t focus on Batman or Superman. The filmmaker returned to the franchise for X-Men: Days of Future Past, which earned a strong response from audiences and critics, which made everyone that much more baffled when Apocalypse was such a disappointment.

This wasn’t Singer’s only instance of abandoning a production, as he repeated that behavior on Bohemian Rhapsody, with Dexter Fletcher stepping in to take over the film with weeks left of production. Longtime X-Men producer Simon Kinberg took over the series to direct Dark Phoenix, the final entry in the franchise.

Stay tuned for details on the X-Men franchise.

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