The Flash (2023) (1 Viewer)

[ponset]

I rather they hire someone to play Jay Garrick and he replaces Miller.
That way Jay can join his fellow Justice Society members that are appearing in BLACK ADAM in a JSA movie.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Can they cut the film so Flashpoint results in Barry Allen looking like Grant Gustin at the climax?

As long as Barry stays away from Hawaii, he'll be fine.

 

[Malcolm R]

 

[Alex...]

WB Considering Replacing Ezra Miller As The Flash With Dylan O'Brien


https://www.screengeek.net/2022/05/09/the-flash-ezra-miller-replacement-dylan-o-brien/

 

[Jake Lipson]

Screen Geek is not exactly a Hollywood trade, so I would take their reporting with a grain of salt until somewhere like Variety, Deadline or The Hollywood Reporter confirms it.

As I understand it, the movie has wrapped principal photography already, and of course Miller is currently the titular star. If the recasting does pan out, it seems like they would have to essentially remake the movie from scratch. When Christopher Plummer replaced Kevin Spacey in All the Money in the World, he had a supporting role and he wasn't in every scene. So they didn't have to reshoot the whole thing. Because the replacement in question would be the lead, this would be a much bigger and more costly endeavor. I'm not saying it's impossible. But it would cost a LOT of money. I don't envy the executives having to make this decision.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I didn't read it as Warner Bros. replacing him for this movie, but rather as the Flash going forward. It sounds like the Discovery team is ready to do a complete overhaul of the DC properties anyway, so that might have happened regardless.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Recasting Miller for any potential sequels, rather than attempting to shoot this one, would be more financially prudent. But if they don't reshoot this one, I do wonder what the promotional campaign and press tour for it will be like. WB was able to have other actors promote The Secrets of Dumbledore because Miller played a supporting role in it. It is much more difficult to avoid Ezra Miller doing promotional work for The Flash because they are playing the titular character.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

My guess is that they refocus on Michael Keaton reclaiming the mantle as Batman and Sasha Calle as the first Hispanic Supergirl.

 

[Jeff Cooper]

It would certainly cost a hell of a lot more to re-shoot the current movie with a new lead than the potential loss of revenue releasing the current movie as is with the windfall of negative publicity surrounding Miller.

 

[Malcolm R]

I doubt they're planning to reshoot the movie that's already in the can. I would think the plan would be to replace Miller for future films. I expect they'll release the current movie as-is and let what will be, be. If it flops, it's just a write off.

Too bad, as Miller's on-screen work is pretty good. I also like Dylan O'Brien. He seems to have the right mix of humor and action chops based on past efforts in TV's Teen Wolf, the Maze Runner trilogy, American Assassin, and Love & Monsters.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I think this new movie is about the DC multiverse so if they felt so inclined, there is probably an organic way to keep 99% of the movie and just have it be part of the end that Flash saves the day and part of the consequence is now he looks like someone else.

But honestly I don’t care. If they replace him everyone will know why and the film(s) don’t need to address it. I like that the latest Fantastic Beasts film didn’t spend any time addressing the casting change of Grindelwald. In universe, the character looks the same, and we the audience know it’s the same character. We know why the change happened. No further attention needs to be drawn to it.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I like that the latest Fantastic Beasts film didn’t spend any time addressing the casting change of Grindelwald.

We had opposite reactions to that approach. For me, it drew more attention to the change by not using the explanation they already had. Grindelwald had changed his appearance in the first film to look like Colin Farrell and then was revealed to be Johnny Depp in the end. So it would have been very easy to say that he changed faces again.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

That’s the Black Panther approach you prefer, acknowledge reality within the fictional construct. But I view these as immersive escapist fun so anything that reminds me of the actor rather than the character is a wrong turn in my book.

 

[Jake Lipson]

We'll agree to disagree on Grindelwald.

To get this particular discussion back to The Flash:

I didn't read it as Warner Bros. replacing him for this movie, but rather as the Flash going forward.

This doesn't entirely make sense to me. Even if WB has decided to replace Ezra Miller, which seems likely, why would they have a list of names right now? The movie that Miller already shot isn't scheduled to release until June 2023. That's over a year away. The sequel probably won't be confirmed until after the first one comes out. We all knew that The Batman was going to have a sequel, but WB didn't officially greenlight it until after the first film had been put out. If WB waits a month or so after the release of The Flash to formalize a greenlight for the sequel, the earliest that would happen would be July 2023. So we'd probably be looking at late 2023 or early 2024 for shooting on the sequel to begin. They don't need to cast the replacement Flash now for a movie that would shoot in 2023-4.

So why are we already hearing that someone is at the top of their list unless they actually intend to reshoot the current movie with them?

I'm not saying I expect them to reshoot the current movie. That is probably extremely cost-prohibitive. However, I don't understand the purpose of casting someone this far out for a movie that is probably a couple years away from shooting.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Two reasons I can think of:

1. To shift the discussion away from the violent episodes that Miller has had with half the state of Hawaii.
2. Likely for some small reshoots to introduce the new actor as the Flash from another universe. The new actor is in the movie for five minutes or less, but it provides some continuity during the transition.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Also worth noting that the article quoted isn’t exactly from a journalistically sound news organization. It’s mostly click bait, opinion, and unsourced nebulous statements like “I’m hearing this…” or “everyone knows that…” so it could also be total nonsense.

 

[Malcolm R]

Could they do facial replacement in the current film? They could credit Miller as "motion capture Flash" or "body double".

 

[Josh Steinberg]

They could do anything, but to do that kind of work for an entire film at something close to photorealism is probably adding tens of millions to a hundred million dollars in effects work to what must already be an absurdly large budget.

For better or worse, Warner has put $200 million into a film that is saddled with the baggage of a troubled lead. The best they can probably do at this point is let the film be what it is while making it clear that they don’t condone the lead’s behavior (and/or making it clear that he’s being written out). Any other option would entail basically remaking the film. Anything’s possible but I’d figure the only thing worse than having a $200 million film that fails at the box office would be turning it into a $400 million film that couldn’t possibly make that back.

 

[Malcolm R]

Yeah, I don't think they'll make any major changes to the film in the can unless, as Adam said, they do some additional scenes to tack on at the end for the transition to a new actor in future films.

I think the Miller Flash will be released largely as is. I don't think his actions (so far) would have a huge effect on the box office. Hopefully Warner has emphasized to Miller to stay out of further trouble if they ever want to work together on anything in the future.

 

[Kent K H]

LIke Josh, I have always had the same unease with Miller in general, but not been able to put my finger on why. I remember being seemingly the only person who did not find him delightful in Justice League. I feel like this is almost vindication that I wasn't looking for.

As for Miller's behavior, my incredibly amateur observation is, this sounds like what someone does when they're on the wrong psych medications and needs to have someone take a serious look at adjusting dosages or pharmaceuticals, which will hopefully happen if I'm not wrong.

But yes, I'm sure this has to be a huge headache for WB, and I personally feel like they almost deserve it for how they've so poorly shepherded the DC characters and ran the films division. (Though this is coming from a guy who was screaming at them to put Paul Dini and Bruce Timm in charge of their films before the MCU was even a thing.)