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Not Just Chin and Abs: 'Arrow's' Stephen Amell May Be Smarter Than the People At Warner Bros.

By Cindy Davis | Celebrity | November 18, 2014 |

By Cindy Davis | Celebrity | November 18, 2014 |


Far be it from me to tell Warner Bros. and DC how to run their businesses; I’ll leave that to Stephen Amell. Right after The Flash (starring Grant Gustin, whose Barry Allen was first introduced on Arrow) debuted to damned good numbers on the CW, Warner Bros. announced the 2018 Flash film would star Ezra Miller (We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Perks of Being a Wallflower). Say what? According to DC Chief Creative Officer, Geoff Johns, DC intends to keep their film and television universes unintegrated: “It’s a separate universe than film so that the filmmakers can tell the story that’s best for film, while we explore something different in a different corner of the DC universe.”

In general, that might not seem like such a terrible idea; at the same time, if you’re launching a new series and it does as well as CW’s The Flash, maybe you should at least consider using that same actor — especially when he’s so well-received? At the very least, give the new kid a chance to enjoy his moment in the sun before you trot out his movie counterpart (which has to feel a bit like a slap in the face).

Arrow’s Stephen Amell certainly seems to think Warner Bros. made the wrong move:

“I thought that the way that Warner Bros. announced the slate of DC movies could have been handled better. And I think someone like Grant Gustin, who has just launched an iconic character like the Flash to record-breaking numbers, numbers that far-surpassed Arrow’s numbers, he should have been given a wider berth than two episodes before another actor was announced to play his character. All that being said, that’s because I’m protective of Grant, and that’s because I think producing 23 episodes of superhero television is more difficult than producing a feature film. And it’s 23 episodes again, and again, and again.”

Who wouldn’t want that guy on her side?

I think we can all understand (and forgive) Amell’s protectiveness, but isn’t there also some business sense on his side? Sure, maybe you keep your big guns like Batman and Superman separate because the stories you’re telling are so completely different (e.g. Gotham and Batman v Superman). But, relative newcomers like Amell and Gustin are practically screaming for theater time. And maybe for Amell, there’s some reconsidering going on?

“The plans that Warner Bros. has, and it’s a great plan, overall, and DC has for the introduction to the Justice League of America and all the standalone films, is going to take place over the course of five to six years. So who knows what could happen. I’ve had some great conversations with Geoff Johns, who is DC’s Chief Creative Officer. We had this conversation shortly after these announcements were made, and I came away from the conversation feeling great.”

Wait, did Amell just change the Warner Bros. game? I guess we’ll have to lurk in the shadows until things become clearer.

(via Badass Digest)

Cindy Davis, (Twitter)