If the road to seeing The Flash released into cinemas was bumpy, getting the film even made was just as challenging.
During its pre-production, we saw Phil Lord and Christopher Miller attached to write a story treatment, and even Seth Grahame-Smith would work on it with Zack Snyder, while Rick Famuyiwa was helming the project for a long time. After a gruelling process, it seemed like The Flash, starring Ezra Miller, would never happen. The Famuyiwa/Flash plans never panned out, and it was stuck in creative limbo until 2018 when the directing duo of John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein became attached.
The Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves filmmakers recently spoke to Variety about their once-planned Flash movie and opened up about how it never came to be.
“We pitched this idea of a ground-level superhero where it isn’t entirely end-of-the-world stakes,” Daley says. “He’s just learning his powers and is also somewhat dysfunctional with his life. The more imperfect we can make a superhero, the better, because that’s the inherent challenge: How do you give imperfection to someone that is, you know, physically perfect?”
Things changed a bit when the filmmakers say they met with Miller once over dinner before they began working on a script. “They were intense and very bright,” Goldstein says. “Later, it became clear that they didn’t want to quite do the same thing as we did.”
Miller would later write a rival script version with Grant Morrison. While the studio ultimately passed on that, it was fair to say that Goldstein and Daley were ready to move on.
“It was a number of creative differences that caused us at a certain point to decide that it was time to go,” Daley says. “If we feel like the powers-that-be aren’t excited about making the same movie as we are, we’re not going to win that battle,” adds Goldstein. “And so it’s better to cut your losses and get out of there.”
After all that drama, the film would finally land on the lap of the It filmmaker Andy Muschietti. He’d team with Birds of Prey writer Christina Hodson to work on a new version of the original plans. Goldstein and Daley still have a ‘story by’ credit on the film and recently saw the movie. The filmmakers say they feel their DNA all over the project.
SEE ALSO: Read our review of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves here
“They took what we had started and really ran with it and made it a very fun and emotional movie,” Goldstein says. “We’re really happy with how it all turned out.”
The Flash is directed by Andy Muschietti (It) and stars Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/The Flash alongside Kiersey Clemons (Iris West), Ben Affleck (Batman), Michael Keaton (Batman), Sasha Calle (Supergirl), Michael Shannon (General Zod), Antje Traue (Faora-Ul), and Kiersey Clemons (Iris West), Ron Livingston (Henry Allen), and Maribel Verdu (Nora Allen).
Worlds collide in “The Flash” when Barry uses his superpowers to travel back in time in order to change the events of the past. But when his attempt to save his family inadvertently alters the future, Barry becomes trapped in a reality in which General Zod has returned, threatening annihilation, and there are no Super Heroes to turn to. That is, unless Barry can coax a very different Batman out of retirement and rescue an imprisoned Kryptonian… albeit not the one he’s looking for. Ultimately, to save the world that he is in and return to the future that he knows, Barry’s only hope is to race for his life. But will making the ultimate sacrifice be enough to reset the universe?
The Flash is set for release on June 16th, 2023.
