While The Flash may be one of the longest-running superhero series currently on TV, his feature film has been long in the making with several different directors attached at one point or another. The Flash film is being developed now by It‘s Andy Muschietti from a script by Bird of Prey‘s Christina Hodson, but before that Flash star Ezra Miller had actually written a script for the film with comic superstar writer Grant Morrison in what would have been influenced by the Back to the Future trilogy.
Speaking with Collider, Morrison opened up about his and Miller’s take on the story, which is inspired by the Flashpoint miniseries where The Flash travels back in time to prevent the murder of his mother and accidentally reshapes the timeline of the DC Universe. Morrison said “Yeah, it was pretty good. I mean, I don’t know what they’re doing with it. But it was pretty good. And it was a very different kind of superhero thing. It was more like Back to the Future, I would say, than a superhero movie.”
As for the tone of the film, a common thread with the departures of its many directors have been issues of creative differences. It was said Miller wanted a bit of a darker story, but as Morrison told Collider “I mean, elements of darkness were there and the material that they wanted us to use [was] the Flashpoint stuff. So, Ezra and I were actually trying to do something that was a bit more —like I say, it’s kind of like just a great science-fiction story. And if you don’t know [the comics], it would have made sense.”
“Well, I thought we had a really good version of The Flash and we wrote it as fast as The Flash, because it was so demanding, and it was pretty good,” Morrison continued. “And I think after a few drafts, it would have been great. But the way some studios work, these things just come and go. I think about 15 people have already written versions of The Flash. But it does seem to be going ahead now, but not with the version that we did. I had fun. Ezra came over to the house and we just had a real blast and created the story. And maybe one day the script will leak out into the world.”
A few weeks ago it was announced Michael Keaton was in talks to reprise his famous role as Batman from Tim Burton’s 1989 film for Muschietti’s Flash to introduce audiences to the concept of the multiverse, a staple of the DC Universe. We’ll have to wait until DC Fandome in a couple weeks for hopefully more information on Keaton’s potential role and what The Flash has in store.
Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.