Arrow's Stephen Amell: I Feel Like Grant Gustin Should Be Playing The Flash In The Movie

Ever since The Flash was announced as a movie starring Ezra Miller, fans and members of the comics community have been a bit...unsettled...about the prospect of having a feature film come along, with controversial casting, so soon after Grant Gustin's TV series debuted to spectacular ratings, critical acclaim and the kind of unconditional fan love usually reserved for Guardians of the Galaxy.

The talent involved, though, have stayed fairly quiet -- and for obvious reasons. But in a new interview with The Wall Street Journal, Arrow star Stephen Amell had some thoughts on what shape the DC Cinematic Universe should take.

Spoilers: he would want in, should there be a Green Arrow movie -- and thinks Gustin deserved a shot, too -- but he's also more excited about making several movies' worth of entertaining stories on Arrow every year than he would be for making a couple of hours every three years.

Here's a snippet from the interview, with the pertinent questions and answers included:

We've heard so much in recent weeks about Marvel and DC announcing so many comic book movies over the next few years. Are you ready for a Green Arrow movie?

I am completely indifferent. First of all, wanting a movie undersells the idea that making 23 episodes a year isn't a huge achievement. It is and I would put that degree of difficulty up against any feature film that has ever been made...except Lord of the Rings and that gigantic Peter Jackson-led undertaking… and maybe Titanic. But, other than those two movies, I'd put making 23 hours of interesting content in a TV season up against anything on the film side. It is difficult to me to want or envision an Arrow movie when we are shooting the 10th episode of our third season with 13 more episodes to go and in all likelihood 3 more seasons on the other side of that. I'm interested in keeping that content fresh. Once we get to the end of that road, maybe then I'll shift my focus.

There was some talk and controversy about the fact that Grant Gustin is doing the "Flash" TV show but was not named the Flash for the "Flash" movie. If Green Arrow was going to be on screen, do you feel like it should be you?

Yeah. Of course. And I feel like it should be Grant doing the movie. But the important thing to remember is just because Grant Gustin plays the part of Barry Allen doesn't mean Ezra Miller can't also play Barry Allen. There can be different interpretations of the character. Anyone who is a fan of the comics knows the Flash character is one of the forces that leads to parallel universes. And who knows, they might find a fantastic actor to play Oliver Queen on the feature side who has a different take on the character. I'm certainly a departure from the typical Oliver Queen from the comic books. I just think that everybody needs to be patient with the whole thing. The fact that DC and Warner have announced all these comic book features is nothing but good for business.

As you can tell from Amell's tone, he isn't upset...but that line -- "I feel like it should be Grant doing the movie" -- will likely echo with fandom for a while to come.

The Flash airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW. Arrow airs Wednesdays at the same bat-time, same bat-channel. The Flash feature film is due in theaters in 2018.