While director Andy Muschietti has publicly claimed that The Flash‘s absolutely abysmal visual effects were an intentional creative choice, a new rumor suggests that this narrative is not only completely false, but only being peddled in order to cover up for the truth that the Scarlet Speedster’s sub-PlayStation 2-era graphics were actually the result of he and his team he and his team making near-unworkable scheduling demands of the various VFX studios that worked on the film.
Muschietti first offered this explanation for the film’s appearance during a post-premiere interview given to io9.
“The idea, of course, is…we are in the perspective of the Flash,” said the recently-announced director of DC’s upcoming The Brave and the Bold movie. “Everything is distorted in terms of lights and textures. We enter this ‘waterworld’ which is basically being in Barry’s POV. It was part of the design so if it looks a little weird to you that was intended.”
However, according to a supposed Hollywood insider who allegedly spoke to Cosmic Book News founder and editor Matt McGloin, Muschietti “is full of s–t about the CGI meaning to look like that.”
In reality, said the source, The Flash looked like microwaved cheese because “they didn’t give the CGI team enough time to complete the scenes.”
“It’s why even scenes outside of the ‘Speed Force’ are trash, like Ben [Affleck]’s cape and moments with the Flash on Keaton’s plane and during the Zod final battle,” the source continued. “Director is covering up for it by saying it was a creative choice, total BS.”
The source further attested that the version of the film screened in theaters both did not represent Muschietti’s actual vision for The Fastest Man Alive, nor did it match the one that was shown during test screenings.
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“It’s a shame, from what I was told The Flash people screened last year was not this,” this supposed insider revealed to McGloin. “A lot changed. The director was hoping to use this to conclude Snyder’s universe, but execs didn’t allow it. Such bulls–t.”
Bringing his reveal to a close, the source ultimately opined, “DC is done. I feel like regardless of what Gunn puts out, it’s an uphill battle.”
Interestingly, this rumor is given particular credence thanks to the similar confirmation by one of The Flash’s production coordinators that the film looks awful because the studio made its VFX teams work on “insane deadlines”.
“Let me fill you in on a little secret,” explained VFX artist and production coordinator Zach Mulligan . “Movie studios don’t care about good CGI. They just don’t! The only thing they care about is pleasing their shareholders on the next earnings call.”
“To them, they’ve managed to increase the output of superhero movies that are still making billions of dollars and they’ve reduced the time it takes to make them,” he further detailed. “Studios could easily space out their projects to give these super talented and hard working VFX artists more time to work on the film, but…that’s just not in the best interest of the shareholders. Instead, they increase the pressure on these artists to deliver faster and faster results – no pun intended.”
“When you’re putting out this many projects with shorter trun arounds, the VFX will always look worse,” Mulligan concluded. “So, if it looks like a VFX shot in The Flash was made in a week, it’s probably because it was.”
Unfortunately for DC, whether or not Muschietti is telling the truth or covering up for Hollywood’s ineptitude does nothing to change the fact that the version of The Flash screened for the public will go down in history as one of cinema’s greatest CGI failures.