David Goyer To Direct DC’s The Flash
The Blade and Batman Writer/Director does another comic book movie about the fastest man alive!
Now, before you start singing Queen’s incomparably catchy, and inestimably shit, Flash thing - “Flash! Aaaaaaah! Saviour of the universe! The Flash! Aaaaaah! Save every one of us!” – you need to know a few things. Namely – this isn’t the latest remake of Flash Gordon. Nope, that’s in the safe hands of Stephen Sommers who, even as we speak, is probably thinking up ways to transform Flash into a 20-foot CG bear halfway through.
No, we’re talking The Flash here. Comic book hero (yep, another one). One of the staples of the DC universe. Superfast guy, dresses in red. How fast is he? Well, he could outrun Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari and has been known to travel back in time by legging it as fast as his lycra-clad, should’ve-been-burnt-to-a-crisp legs could carry him. Which is pretty damn fast.
And now he’s going to be the third big DC character to have his own movie in the current comic book revival, following hot on the heels of Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins and Bryan Singer’s Superman (Francis Lawrence’s Constantine is also technically a DC movie, based as it is on a comic produced by Vertigo, an offshoot from the famous company). For today it was announced that David Goyer – a man who knows his way around comic books, having written all three Blade movies, penned Batman Begins, directed Blade Trinity (although we’ll try not to hold that against him) and numerous other drafts for four-colour adaptations (an early draft of Mark Steven Johnson’s Ghost Rider and the uber-crap David Hasselhoff TV movie version of Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD amongst them) – will write, produce and direct the movie for DC’s parent company, Warner Brothers.
“'Flash' is my favorite of the properties," said Goyer. "I think the character of the Flash, who moves faster than the speed of light, opens itself up to rich cinematic and story ideas."
Indeed. We’re particularly looking forward to the bit where he races into the villain’s lair so fast he remains undetected by the security cameras – and proceeds to rearrange the furniture, completely screwing up the bad guy’s feng shui. But, our ideas apart, Goyer is remaining tight-lipped, so here are some Flash facts: There was a short-lived TV show based on the character in 1990, following the comic book craze sparked by the original Tim Burton Batman. It lasted just a few episodes, but was pretty good fun, and Mark Hamill turned up as the cackling Joker-lite villain, The Trickster. Also, in Catch Me If You Can, Frank Abnagale’s alias, Barry Allen, was taken from The Flash’s alter ego. In fact, The Flash has actually – unlike Clark Kent or Bruce Wayne – been several characters over the years, including Jay Garrick, Allen, and Wally West. And, erm, that’s it.
OK, so he’s not exactly Batman or Superman, but The Flash is one of the most recognisable DC characters around, and this has the potential to be freaky cool, so long as the Goyer who wrote Blades I and II and (reportedly) a cracking Batman Begins script shows up, and not the uninspired Goyer of Blade Trinity notoriety.
And with rumours that Joss Whedon is toying with Wonder Woman (stop s[racial slur]ing at the back, you lot), it looks like DC – which has to funnel all its projects through Warners, rather than spread them around various studios, as Marvel does – is finally getting its act together on the big screen. The question is, though: will the comic book bubble have burst before its non-Batman/Superman movies make it to the big screen? Looks like The Flash might have to get his skates on.