‘Dope’ director Rick Famuyiwa catches ‘The Flash’

By Rick Marshall Published June 6, 2016

the flash director rick famuyiwa 2 dc comics — DC Comics / Francis Manapul

When filmmaker Seth Grahame-Smith made an abrupt exit from the upcoming Warner Bros. superhero movie The Flash last month, it was widely expected that we’d see a new director named in the near future in order to keep development moving along.

That’s exactly what happened this week, with Dope writer and director Rick Famuyiwa now reportedly attached to the film.

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Despite a relatively small résumé at this point, Famuyiwa is a filmmaker on the rise in Hollywood, having earned quite a bit of positive buzz for his 2015 film about a geeky teenager growing up in a crime-ridden Los Angeles neighborhood. According to Deadline, which initially reported Famuyiwa’s attachment to The Flash, he’s also receiving considerable Emmy Award attention for directing Confirmation, the recent HBO drama chronicling Anita Hill’s sexual harassment allegations against U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas during his 1991 confirmation hearings.

Currently set to star We Need to Talk About Kevin actor Ezra Miller, The Flash is intended to kick off a big-screen franchise based on DC Comics’ speedster superhero, who is already the subject of a wildly popular television series on The CW. The character is played by actor Grant Gustin on the series, but WB and its superhero franchise producer Zack Snyder have indicated that the television series and movie won’t exist in the same universe the way Marvel Studios’ movies and television series do, despite the success of the series.

Miller made his debut as The Flash in this year’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and is expected to appear next in 2017’s Justice League Part One before going solo in The Flash a year later. Grahame-Smith penned the most recent script for The Flash, based on an original treatment by The Lego Movie directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.

The Flash is currently scheduled to hit theaters March 16, 2018.

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