Before director Andy Muschietti landed The Flash and became the one to finally roll cameras on Barry Allen’s long-delayed solo movie, the project cycled through a handful of other filmmakers on its quest to reach the big screen. Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley were previously attached to the film before they went on to tackle Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. But while speaking with Variety, the duo reflected on the time they spent playing in the DC universe and revealed why things just didn’t work out.
Daley and Goldstein were signed to write and direct The Flash for over a year before jumping ship in 2019. As Daley explains, the pair wanted to move away from the usual conventions of the superhero genre, which they felt led to a “mounting sense of fatigue” among moviegoers. And they believed Ezra Miller’s “youthfully playful performance” as the Scarlet Speedster gave them the perfect opportunity to do that.
“We pitched this idea of a ground-level superhero where it isn’t entirely end-of-the-world stakes,” said Daley. “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?”
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Goldstein also confirmed that he and Daley met with Miller before they began writing their script. Despite of the many scandals that Miller has faced over the past year, Goldstein recalled that the actor was “very intense and very bright” during their meeting. But ultimately, he realized that Miller “didn’t want to quite do the same thing as we did” with the story, with Daley adding that “it was a number of creative differences that caused us at a certain point to decide that it was time to go.”
“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,” confessed Goldstein. “And so it’s better to cut your losses and get out of there.”
The Flash will hit theaters on June 16.
Would you have liked to see Goldstein and Daley’s take on Barry Allen? Let us know in the comment section below!
Recommended Reading: The Flash Vol. 8: Flash War
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