Andrés Muschietti, the director behind the upcoming DC movie The Flash, believes in Ezra Miller despite their many controversies.
Muschietti knows that Miller has been making unsavory headlines for a while now, but he points out that Miller’s work on The Flash was superb. According to Muschietti, Miller, who uses the pronouns them/them, is an “extraordinary actor.”
“It was probably one of my best experiences working with an actor,” Muschietti said during a recent Q&A with the press. “They’re brilliant. (Their) contributions are consistent, and they also like to do more takes than me, which is a lot.”
He continued, “They’re full of incredible emotions and they bring them to the set every time. (They) are also an incredible comedian, which I wasn’t completely prepared for. I mean, I got them. seen in movies before. I thought they were funny, but when I started working with them I realized they were an amazing comedian.”
The Flash is set to hit theaters on June 16, and early looks at this year’s CinemaCon brought more positive reviews for the film despite Miller’s controversies. A recently released trailer gave viewers a deeper look at DC’s next bold swing, which will see the return of Michael Keaton’s Batman. The film will apparently follow Barry Allen, aka The Flash, as he travels back in time to save his parents. Playing with time is tricky, though, and it turns out Barry’s actions have caused incredible chaos.
The trailer also shows how there will actually be two different versions of Barry, a choice Muschietti elaborated on. He also applauded Miller’s ability to effectively capture both Barrys.
“The fact that they were playing two versions of the same character, two diametrically opposed versions,” Muschietti said. “The Barry that we all know who is neurotic, anxious, full of struggles, childhood trauma and so on. And the Barry who is basically none of that, and he’s absolutely carefree. It was a very challenging fun to explore these two characters for them, for Ezra, for me. It was a lot of fun.
Miller’s past behavior has been a matter of great concern lately, as the actor has been embroiled in many unsavory stories. They were accused of throwing a chair at a woman, treating minors, and disappearing for a while while all of this was going on. They also had a series of legal troubles in Hawaii, Massachusetts and North Dakota.
Warner Bros. Discover briefly considered parting ways with Miller for their actions, but the star has since apologized. They said they had “complex mental health issues” and promised to seek treatment. They also met with WB executives in August last year to apologize for drawing negative attention to The Flash.
With all of that in mind, Muschietti gave an update on Miller’s current status.
“Ezra is fine now,” the director said. “We all hope they get better. They are taking steps to recover. (They) are dealing with mental health issues, but (they are) fine. We spoke to them not too long ago, and they’ I’m very determined to improve myself.”
Carson Burton is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter at @carsonsburton