Monica Rubalcava |
Los Angeles (USA), (EFE).- Inspired by classic superhero films, Argentine director Andy Muschietti (“It”) gave The Flash a nostalgic air.
The film was released on June 16 in the midst of endless problems with the authorities by its protagonist, Ezra Miller.
“I wanted to do justice to the influences of cinema that marked me (…) and one of the aspects of the emotion was to look back and appeal to those nostalgic feelings,” the filmmaker told EFE in an interview,
The director directs the film based on the DC Comics universe, a franchise owned by the Warner Bros. studio.
Both Richard Doner’s version of Superman in 1978 and Tim Burton’s Batman in 1989 served as inspiration for Muschiett.
The film portrays in a “very personal” way the story of the fastest man in the world: Barry Allen, aka “The Flash”.
The Flash’s Journey
The fiction follows the adventures of a lonely, impatient and insecure Allen on his journey to the past to save his mother.
In doing so, he has to face the consequences of trying to control fate and accept that loss is inevitable.
His actions will lead him to travel through multiverses where he lives with various versions of Batman, such as Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton.
While Muschietti shows off cameos ranging from the iconic Superman, played by Christopher Reeve, to Burton’s “man of steel,” which Nicolas Cage never got to star in.
However, the legal problems that Miller has gone through in recent years blur that hero figure and have overshadowed the film’s debut, which has already been praised by some specialized critics.
Ezra Miller polemics
The actor has been in a spiral of controversy since 2020 when a video appeared in which he was seen suffocating a young woman in Iceland.
Two years later, Miller was charged with home burglary in Vermont and was also arrested twice in Hawaii.
“We had the opportunity to shoot with Ezra for 138 days during which he gave us everything as a person and as a professional actor,” said Bárbara Muschietti, producer of “The Flash.”
“He has now said that he is undergoing treatment and is taking it very seriously. We support it 100%,” he added.
Along these lines, the film’s director has also publicly stated that he has no intention of changing the Flash’s interpreter in the hypothetical scenario of a second film, assuring that no actor could surpass Miller’s performance.
This is the first foray into superhero cinema for Andy Muschietti, who had previously focused mainly on the horror genre.
The Argentine had participated in films such as “Mama” (2013) or different versions of “It” (2017 and 2019), the macabre clown created by Stephen King.
But this did not mean that the Argentine renounced the dark cut that this type of film usually presents and assured that he managed to contribute “a drop of terror”.
Latin scene and the Chapulín Colorado
The filmmaker confessed that “The Flash” was “a fun challenge” that “trained” him in the world of blockbusters.
Furthermore, it led him to explore a visual language with which he had never worked.
The film has a touch of humor that, according to the production company, was the result of the influences of Latino superheroes on Mexican television in the 1970s.
“We grew up with Chapulín Colorado, a hero we cannot forget, so humor could not be missing,” mentioned Bárbara Muschietti.
Ibero-American participation in “The Flash”
But the Hispanic essence in “The Flash” is also present with the actress of Colombian roots, Sasha Calle.
Calle gives life to Supergirl, and the Spanish Maribel Verdú, who plays Barry Allen’s mother.
“Maribel is a sweetheart, Andy and Barbara too. It was amazing to do my first film and speak in ‘spanglish’ (Spanish and English). Latin people have a special familiarity, ”he told EFE Calle.
Without blond hair, or a miniskirt outfit, Calle assures that the Supergirl she represents is different, but that she maintains the main values of the superheroine.
“We do not change her much, we have always seen her as an alien full of love and hope, who protects the people she loves and no matter what universe, multiverse or comic she is in, she is that way,” the actress concluded.