Understand the controversies that affected the release of the film

Arrives in theaters this Thursday, the 15th, ‘The Flash’, a film that adapts to the big screen the arc of the comics known as “Ignition Point” or “Flashpoint”, where Barry Allen goes back in time to prevent a tragic event and ends up facing harsh consequences.

However, long before it was released, the feature film was already gaining the spotlight not for its plot, but rather, due to the casting of the actor behind the Scarlet Speedster: Erza Millersince the star who gained prominence in his career after starring in “We need to talk about Kevin” (2011) and “The Advantages of Being Invisible” (2012), had his name involved in several controversies over the last three years.

2020

• Fight with fan in Iceland

erza was filming his last appearance in the Harry Potter spin-off, “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore”, in London, but due to the pandemic related to COVID-19, filming was interrupted on March 15, 2020, so the actor passed often seen in bars in Iceland’s capital, Reykjavík.

On one of these visits, in April of that same year, erza appeared in a video hanging a fan. The action was explained by the victim of the action, who declined to be identified but told Variety that he addressed erza friendly and asked what had happened to the actor’s feet, as he was wearing slippers and there were exposed injuries.

He said he got the bruises and scars in a fight. Jokingly, both speculated about which of the two would win a fight between them, but the situation changed its tone when some time later, miller confronted her on the way out of the bar:

I thought it was all fun and games – but it wasn’t,” she said. “All of a sudden he’s on top of me, choking me, still screaming in my face if I want to fight,” she recalled.

The woman’s friends managed to drive away erzaand he was thrown out of the bar by a security guard, but not before the actor spit several times directly in the face of his, until then, fan.

2022

Two years later, more controversies involving the name of erza started to emerge. In January 2020, the actor posted a video on his official Instagram profile, threatening to kill members of the Ku Klux Klan, a racist organization in the United States.

The video was deleted from the star’s social networks, but as reflected by Rolling Stone and published by the Ei Nerd portal, ezra wrote in the publication’s caption: “This is not a joke and even if I recognize myself as a clown, please trust me and take this seriously.”.

Additionally, in the video he stated, “This is a message to the Beulaville, North Carolina chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. Hello, first of all. How are you? It’s me. Look, if you all want to die, I I suggest you kill yourselves with your own weapons, okay? and otherwise, keep doing exactly what you’re doing now – and you know what I’m talking about – and then, you know, we’ll do it for you if that’s what you really want. I’ll talk to you soon, okay? Bye!”.

But, as verified by the two journalistic vehicles already mentioned, there are no known connections between Beulaville, the small town with just over 1500 inhabitants, located in North Carolina, United States, with the Ku Klux Klan.

In March 2022, miller was arrested in a bar in Hawaii for inappropriate conduct, after “screaming obscenities”, snatching “the microphone from a woman’s hand” who was singing Karaoke, and attacking “a 32-year-old man who was playing darts”, as revealed by local police in information published by Deadline and reflected by G1.

Less than a month later, in April, he returned to the police station accused of committing second-degree assault. G1 reveals that the actor threw a chair at a party and hit a woman’s forehead, causing a cut. On both occasions, miller posted bail and is awaiting trial.

Also in Hawaii, a couple applied for a restraining order against ezra, after accusing the actor of having invaded the hotel room where they were staying, stealing their documents and bank cards and threatening them with death. The request was not granted by the judge, according to THR.

• Massachusetts restraining order

In June of the same year, according to information from Estadão, a mother and her 12-year-old child who identifies as non-binary gender, obtained a restraining order against erza in Greenfield, Massachusetts.

Erza was staying in the house underneath the family, and started pestering them. A neighbor and the woman involved in the situation told the Daily Beast (via Estadão) that after a discussion with erzawho, who at the time was wearing a bulletproof vest, showed that he was carrying a gun and said: “This way, you can lead to a really serious situation”.

In addition, the neighbor told the portal that the actor turned to the child, praising her, hugging her uncomfortably and touching her hips, asking her to follow him on Instagram. The situation repeated itself, with ezra pressing your body against the child.

• Guns, drugs and kids in Vermont

In the same month, Rolling Stone magazine reported that the actor would be hosting a mother and her three children, who he would have met on his trip to Hawaii in March, at his farm in Stamford, Vermont, in the United States.

As stated by the woman, miller It would have saved her from a “violent and abusive ex” and helped her “to have a safe environment for my three very young children”. However, the article reveals that sources claim that there are weapons and drugs scattered around the house, and that one of the children would have taken a revolver bullet and put it in his mouth.

Also in June, the case Tokata Iron Eyes came to light. erza would have known Tokata (who identifies as a non-binary person) when she was still a minor, aged 12, at a protest on Standing Rock, an American Indian reservation.

According to the parents of Tokata, miller introduced drugs like marijuana, LSD and ketamine to the young activist before coming of age. Furthermore, Tokata, who moved in with erza shortly before the declaration granted by the parents, he would live without access to a cell phone, his documents and any money or card.

However, iron eyes posted a video on her Instagram revealing that the allegations of parental abuse were false. “It is nobody’s business. This is my life, these are my decisions. I am disappointed with my parents and the press ”, she said in the video that was deleted, but had quotes collected by the Extra portal.

In an interview with Variety, a German woman, who asked to be identified as Nadiaaccused ezra Miller from harassment. The two had a date in 2020, and in February 2022, when they saw each other again, they arranged another meeting, but this time, the actor, had aggressive behavior after Nadia not allow him to smoke inside her house.

In September, news broke that miller he had been accused of having broken into a house in the United States on May 1st, where he would have stolen drinks. The information is from Estadão.

• Altar in honor

In the same month, Vanity Fair (via Monet magazine) published an article where sources stated that miller compared Flash with Jesus Christ, creating an altar with ammunition, marijuana, plants, Flash costumes and cell phones of some of the women who visited him in the last two years in his farm in the state of Vermont in order to worship his own image.

How did the controversies affect Erza’s role in the DCEU?

With the various situations involving the actor, the release of ‘The Flash’ was the subject of speculation about what Warner Bros. and DC would do with regards to the film. The scenarios became clearer when the actor revealed that he was supposed to spend time on his farm, thus three frames were possible, as echoed by THR and Omelete. Are they:

Limited participation: With the improvement of the actor’s behavior after professional help, the film would be released, but ezra would participate in a limited way in the promotion tour

Replacement: Case miller did not start treatment, it could be replaced after the release of the feature;

Cancellation: With no prospect of improvement, a production reset could be necessary and with the new footage, there would be a loss of US$ 200 million (amount responsible for the cost of the film)

The first possibility was the one that became real, since miller made his first public appearance after the controversies at the premiere of The Flash, held last Monday, the 12th, in Los Angeles, where he did not grant any interviews.