X-Men Director Bryan Singer Speaks Out On Sex Abuse Allegations
With the first trailer for ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ having just arrived, seeing director Bryan Singer return for the fourth time to the franchise he helped start, it’s easy to forget that this wasn’t always a certainty.
Shortly prior to the release of 2014′s ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past,’ the first X-movie Singer had directed since 2003′s ‘X2,’ actor/model Michael Egan accused the director of sexually abusing him as a minor in 1999.
Singer - who had come out as bisexual earlier in 2014 - denied the charges, calling them “outrageous, vicious and completely false.“ Egan eventually dropped his lawsuit, and a number of others against more Hollywood figures, when the evidence controverted his claims.
Even so, the proceedings threatened to cast a shadow over Singer’s career, seeing him withdraw from promotional duties on ‘Days of Future Past’ and putting his future as a filmmaker in doubt.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, 50-year old Singer has now publicly addressed the matter, declaring bluntly that he was never in any doubt that he would go on making films.
“I love working. This is what I love to do. Making films is something I’ve been doing since I was 13 years old. So to not do it just because of some bulls***, like complete, absolute bulls***, would be absurd.”
Producer Hutch Parker concurs: “The idea of anybody else directing ‘Apocalypse’ didn’t enter our minds. For all of us that knew Bryan, we were pretty confident that was all going to go away and be exposed for what that has been exposed as being.”
The accuser Michael Egan was recently sentenced to two years jail time for unrelated fraud charges.
Singer had previously faced legal inquiry after underage actors on his 1997 film ‘Apt Pupil’ alleged the director tried to make them shoot a nude shower scene. This case was also dismissed on lack of evidence.
‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ is set to arrive in UK cinemas on 19 May 2016.
Picture Credit: 20th Century Fox, WENN
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