Despite both the studio’s desire to move past the Snyderverse and the actor’s own recent history of criminal controversy, The Flash director Andy Muschetti has affirmed that should the film receive any kind of a sequel, Ezra Miller will remain his top choice to portray the cinematic version of The Fastest Man Alive.
The director threw his full support behind Miller’s potential return to the Speed Force during a recent appearance alongside his production partner and wife Barbara Muschietti on a soon-to-be-released episode of The Discourse, a weekly entertainment podcast hosted by pop-culture news outlet The Playlist.
Per an excerpt of the episode shared by the outlet, at one point during his visit Muschietti was asked by The Discourse host Mike DeAngelo whether or not Miller would ever return to the role of Barry Allen following his upcoming adventure across the multiverse, to which the director replied, “If [a sequel] happens, yes.”
“I don’t think there’s anyone that can play that character as well as they did,” he further praised. “The other depictions of the character are great, but this particular vision of the character, they just excelled in doing it. And, as you said, the two Barrys – it feels like a character that was made for them.”
Adding to her husband’s thoughts, Barbara added, “In principal photography, Ezra was brilliant and the most committed and the most professional [actor]. Ezra gave everything for this role – physically, creatively, emotionally. They were absolutely supreme.”
Interestingly, the Muschiettis are not the only members of The Flash‘s production team to put forth this notion that Miller’s many controversies will mean nothing to either general audiences or the actor’s reputation once his lightning-laced performance finally hits the silver screen.
Likewise asked by Canada’s CBC News during an April interview if he believed Miller’s off-screen behavior would impact The Flash‘s financial performance, the film’s production designer Paul Austerberry simply declared “People will forget that” before quickly moving on to the next topic.
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But unfortunately for WBD, The Flash, and in particular Miller, it appears that audiences are not as easily distracted – or, frankly, as dumb – as everyone behind-the-scenes seem to believe.
Speaking to their “sources who have access to tracking data”, The Hollywood Reporter has claimed that the Scarlet Speedster’s long-delayed solo film “is pacing to open in the $70 million range” – a total which the outlet’s insiders have noted is “a soft number for a movie that’s been heavily promoted by Warner Brothers Discovery as the best superhero film of all time”.
Whether the film’s budget is closer to its officially reported $200 Million total or its rumored-but-unspecified actual budget that supposedly needs the film to rake in at least $1 Billion before it can begin to turn a profit, an opening in that range would spell disaster for the studio.
In light of this reality, these recent attempts by WBD to gaslight audiences into forgetting Miller’s very real and very serious legal entaglements ultimately come off as nothing more than a desperate attempt by the studio to win back the hearts and wallets of the many, many fans who have chosen to refrain financially endorsing the actor’s now-notorious actions.
Barring any last minute delays, The Flash will race into theaters on June 16th.
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