‘The Flash’ Director Quits The Movie Over ‘Creative Differences’

Director of the upcoming The Flash film has quit the movie over “creative differences.” Seth Grahame-Smith was penned to direct the upcoming 2018 movie reboot of The Flash, but is now reported to have given up his role as director.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, there’s few details around exactly why Grahame-Smith has quit as director of The Flash, with his departure simply being down to “creative differences,” which is an umbrella that could cover any number of reasons.

The latest movie iteration of The Flash isn’t set to hit cinemas for another two years but has already been given a solid release date of March 16, 2018. Seth Grahame-Smith was signed to direct the latest movie iteration of The Flash following his work on titles such as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Aside from directing The Flash, Grahame-Smith has been actively involved in the development of the film since it’s conception. With that in mind, it has been confirmed that Grahame-Smith’s previous work on the movie will be retained and used by the movie’s new director upon their appointment.

The Flash movie dodges bullet and loses director https://t.co/SSQ7ZhKVja pic.twitter.com/qCC24eTjk4

— That Geek Thing (@datgeekthing) April 30, 2016

As reported by IGN, the movie version of The Flash is set to use a completely different actor to the current television iteration. It’s a role that’s already been filled by Ezra Miller who, ahead of the film, has already made appearances in character as The Flash in a number of other DC Universe films. Miller’s version of Barry Allen recently made a cameo appearance in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and will also appear in The Justice League Part One in 2017 ahead of the release of his own film.

Ezra Miller’s appointment as The Flash in the upcoming movie has always been cited as an interesting choice, considering Grant Gustin is already responsible for playing the TV show character, leaving many to wonder why the actor wasn’t offered the role in the movie release. However, from the details so far, The Flash movie appears to be mutually exclusive to the TV series, meaning that DC fans shouldn’t expect the two to cross over in terms of story at any point. Speaking about his version of The Flash, Seth Grahame-Smith has said, “He’s been struck by lightning, that’s the mythos. But he’s a human. He can run through walls. He can run across water. He can run so fast that he can move into another plain of frequency where there’s another reality.”

It’s unclear as of now how Grahame-Smith’s departure from The Flash will affect the movie. However, his departure from this particular film doesn’t mean the director has broken away from Warner Bros. The director still remains involved in a number of the studio’s other projects, as a writer on the Lego Batman Movie and Beetlejuice 2. With that in mind, the director quitting The Flash suggests that the decision was something to do the film’s production team and not necessarily Warner Bros.

With the movie iteration of The Flash not set to hit cinemas until 2018, there’s plenty of time for Warner Bros. to find a replacement director. However, it’s still unclear how The Flash‘s story will be affected by Seth Grahame-Smith’s departure, considering the integral role he’s played in the writing and production of the film so far. With that taken into consideration, the film’s new director could choose to deviate from many of the plans already laid out for the film. However, that’s still an unlikely possibility, with the current director’s resignation over “creative differences”, it’s likely that the film’s writers will want to bring in a new director that they feel better matches their plans for The Flash.

[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]