MOVIE NEWS – After The Flash, will Ezra Miller ever get another starring role in a big Hollywood movie? Does Miller even want to continue acting…?
Ezra Miller has single-handedly shattered the long-held belief that all advertising is good advertising. Although he has shown an incredible ability to generate headlines in the media over the last three years, this attention has not been good for his career.
Moreover, just as Miller’s well-documented personal and legal problems overshadowed his starring role in the blockbuster film The Flash, the film’s disastrous box office results, which were at least partly attributed to Miller, have largely, if not entirely, distracted attention from Miller’s personal life. However, it is highly doubtful that he takes any comfort from this.
Indeed, following the historic failure of the film, serious questions have been raised about whether Miller is still considered employable in Hollywood.
Given what happened with The Flash and the apparent impact Miller’s problems had on the film, and especially its box office success, what Hollywood studio or prominent filmmaker would even consider hiring Miller to star in a major film or television project, let alone a lead role, in the foreseeable future?
Will Ezra Miller ever play the Flash again?
One can only assume that if Flash had been a commercial success if not a box office hit, and Ezra Miller’s performance had been celebrated, Warner Bros. Pictures and production partner DC Studios would probably have turned a blind eye to what Miller was wearing.
However, now that the worst-case scenario has become a reality, is it conceivable that Miller could ever reappear in the DC Universe?
Since Miller was cast as Barry Allen in 2014, DC and Warner Bros. Pictures have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in him in earnest. He has been seen as a defining part of the DCEU. Although the Justice League was a significant project for DC and Warner Bros. Pictures, Miller’s performance in the film was praised. At this point, Miller and DC and Warner Bros. Pictures’ relationship looked promising.
The extent to which that relationship had deteriorated is best demonstrated by the fact that the marketing campaign for The Flash was shockingly focused more on Michael Keaton’s return as Batman than on Miller’s starring role.
In fact, since Miller was unable or unwilling to appear in the media in connection with the film, it seemed as if he was somewhat removed from what was intended for him as the lead.
No more Credence Barebone
Of course, Ezra Miller’s relationship with Warner Bros. Pictures went beyond The Flash. Miller had previously appeared as the magician Credence Barebone in Warner’s Fantastic Beasts film series. He played an essential role in all three films in the series.
However, although Fantastic Beasts creator J.K. Rowling had said that the series would consist of two more films, possibly including Credence Barebone, disappointing box office figures have prompted Warner Bros. Pictures to cancel immediate plans to continue the film series.
Although Miller’s off-screen problems probably played little or no role in Warner’s decision to cancel the Fantastic Beasts series, even if Warner Bros. had given the green light to more Fantastic Beasts films, is there any reason to believe that Miller could have returned as Credence Barebone if the character had been cast in subsequent films, given what happened with The Flash?
Is there still a way back for Ezra?
Considering the flood of bad publicity that has dominated Ezra Miller’s career and life over the past three years, it is easy to forget the exciting and promising career that Miller had before joining the DCEU.
Now that Miller’s Hollywood career seems to be over, at least as far as big-budget studio films are concerned, is it possible that Miller will reinvent himself in the kind of character-driven, unconventional, independent films that first got him the attention of mainstream Hollywood?
Before his role in the DCEU, Miller was best known for his acclaimed performances in the 2011 psychological thriller We Need to Talk About Kevin and the 2012 coming-of-age film The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Before The Flash, Miller appeared as a younger version of surrealist artist Salvador Dalí alongside Sir Ben Kingsley in the 2022 biographical drama Daliland.
But will serious filmmakers be willing to work with Miller after The Flash? Do they fear that Miller’s personal and professional baggage will overshadow their projects? Moreover, the Flash is due to finish shooting in October 2021. And Miller currently has no upcoming acting assignments. Perhaps he has decided to retire from acting and publicity indefinitely? Or is it simply that no one wants to hire him at the moment…?
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