Flash producers says there was "never" a chance the movie wasn't coming out
Producers Barbara and Andy Muschietti deny that Warner Bros. was ever considering dumping the film due to Ezra Miller's bad press
It has not been a good couple of years for the powers that be—or, in some cases, used to be—at Warner Bros.’ beleaguered superhero movie division. (Case in point: We looked at our first draft of that previous sentence, realized it just looked wrong without the word “beleaguered” in there, and went back and added it in.) Lackluster box office returns, Rock-based drama, and, eventually, the cancellation of whole entire films in the name of the Great God Tax Write-Off: Not a great time to be a creative type working on a DC Comics movie. That includes the producers of upcoming tentpole/multiverse-expanding Hail Mary The Flash, who’ve had to deal with a ton of drama, and some potential legal action, surrounding star Ezra Miller over the last two years. But despite that, producer Barbara Muschietti would like it to be known: There was “never” a chance that the movie wasn’t going to come out as a consequence of the firestorm surrounding Miller.
This is per an interview that Muschietti, who produced the film along with her brother, director Andy Muschietti, gave to Entertainment Weekly this week. Responding to questions about reports that Warner Bros. leadership was starting to get leery about releasing a film centered on Miller—which started circulating as the actor began making nigh-weekly headlines about fights in Hawaii, allegations of child endangerment, allegations of grooming, etc. in 2022—Muschietti shuts it down pretty bluntly: “Not at all. No. That was never real.”
Andy Muschietti concurred, stating that, “We have a lot of empathy in general for people who need help, and especially in mental health issues. That’s why they are taking the necessary steps to deal with their recovery, and we support them in that.”
Of course, all of this is happening in the spoke of the multiverse where Miller released a statement of apology in late 2022, and then promptly stopped making headlines; if the press around The Flash—a movie that stars not just one, but two version of the actor—had continued to worsen, who knows how much certainty the Muschiettis would be bringing to bear on this particular topic.