Warner Bros. recently found itself in a bit of a pickle in terms of talent. The studio has been under heavy fire for letting Johnny Depp go from his Gellert Grindelwald part in the Harry Potter Fantastic Beasts spinoff series while appearing to let Amber Heard stay on as Mera in the Aquaman franchise, and now they must determine what to do about the Ezra Miller scandal.
Deadline reports he has been fired.
Since The Flash production completed up in October 2021, Miller has been at the heart of a string of regrettable controversies over the past four months. The situation seems to become worse by the day, as most recently the movie’s star unexpectedly deleted their Instagram page after posting a flood of memes in response to grooming allegations.
Since their debut appearance as the super-speedy hero in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016, the 29-year-old actor and self-identified nonbinary person has played Barry Allen, aka The Flash.
They will appear in The Flash alongside Michael Keaton and Sasha Calle, who play Batman and Supergirl, respectively, as the Scarlet Speedster. Filming for the movie is already done.
The 29-year-old actor has recently dealt with a number of legal troubles, including being accused of violence multiple times while on vacation in Hawaii, including throwing a chair at a woman.
In addition, Miller is eluding the efforts of law authorities to apprehend him after vanishing with an 18-year-old woman, whose parents allege that the non-binary star has been grooming their daughter since she was just 12 years old.
Tokata Iron Eyes’ parents submitted documents asking for a protective order on behalf of their 18-year-old son. “Ezra uses violence, intimidation, threat of violence, fear, paranoia, delusions, and drugs to hold sway over a young adolescent Tokata.” The complaint, obtained by TMZ(opens in new tab), stated. On July 12, there will be a court hearing.
Later, Tokata published the following statement on their Instagram(opens in new tab): “My father and his allegations hold no weight and are frankly transphobic and based in the notion that I am somehow incapable of coherent thought or opposing opinions to those of my own kindred worrying about my well being. I am now aware of the severity of emotional and psychological manipulation I was made to endure while in my parents [sic] home.”
Warner Bros. tried to help Miller, according to Deadline, but the headlines “continue to pile up,” prompting fresh discussions about the future of The Flash movie.
According to a source who spoke to the Deadline, David Zaslav, the new CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, just wants the problem involving Miller to go unnoticed until The Flash hits theaters in June 2023. Miller may not be a part of any future plans due to his efforts to make the company’s DC business as successful as rivals like Marvel Studios. The insider source claims:
“There is no winning in this for Warner Bros. This is an inherited problem for Zaslav. The hope is that the scandal will remain at a low level before the movie is released, and hope for the best to turn out.”
Even if no further complaints are made, according to sources, the studio is not likely to continue casting Miller as the Flash in any DC movies. That would need replacing him later, but the first movie still represents a $200 million investment, and executives at Warner Bros. must shudder at every new press report
The upcoming The Flash movie’s development schedule has been long and problematic; the first release date was set for March 2018.
However, because the producers waited to appoint Andy Muschietti as the director, filming was put off until 2019.
The release date was initially pushed back to June 2022, then to November 2022, and finally to June 2023 as a result of the Covid-19 epidemic.
“It is even feasible to recast Miller this late in the game,” so the studio will have to make some difficult decisions. A less extravagant publicity tour and no red carpet events would follow from moving the movie to an HBO Max streaming release, which would definitely reduce profits.
