The Flash Director Reveals How Long Original Cut Was

As DC fans are well aware, rumors have been swirling about different versions of the Flash movie for some time. Prior to star Ezra Miller’s controversial legal troubles, and even the changing of the guard at DC, rumors had circulated about the film’s content and how long the movie would be. ComicBook.com was on hand for a special screening and Q&A for The Flash with director Andy Muschietti and producer Barbara Muschietti where the topic came up. There the filmmaker was asked about elements that he was forced to cut from the movie, replying: “Well, if you see the four-hour version of this movie, which was my first assembly, you will see what I left out.”

Muschietti continued, “I’m definitely more happy with this version than the four-hour version. Just like it’s something that you get excited and you start improvising with actors and suddenly you have a scene that has doubled the duration that was timed when they were timing the script. But it happens all the time. IT was also three hours and a half, and IT: Chapter Two was like five hours. Then you have to face the edit and say, ‘Okay. We need to remove one hour and a half of this movie, and how it’s going to happen?’ It’s always at the end it’s fun. At the end of six months, it’s fun. At the beginning, it’s just chaos and whatever you start doing is wrong seen in hindsight. Because it’s trial and error and you try a lot of things.”

The director went on to say that the version of the movie they’re showing to audiences remains the “best version of the movie” but couldn’t help but tease “interesting” deleted scenes. He added, “Many things are very cool things, but they somehow step on the propulsion, on the pacing of the movie, which is something that you always have to in mind. Decisions that you have to make.” 

Regarding those scenes, his sister and producer Barbara Muschietti noted, “They’ve been shot some of them, and maybe would see the light of day someday.”

The Flash movie is scheduled to be released on June 16, with its first public screening taking place this week at CinemaCon. WB describes it as follows:

Worlds collide in “The Flash” when Barry uses his superpowers to travel back in time in order to change the events of the past. But when his attempt to save his family inadvertently alters the future, Barry becomes trapped in a reality in which General Zod has returned, threatening annihilation, and there are no Super Heroes to turn to. That is, unless Barry can coax a very different Batman out of retirement and rescue an imprisoned Kryptonian… albeit not the one he’s looking for. Ultimately, to save the world that he is in and return to the future that he knows, Barry’s only hope is to race for his life. But will making the ultimate sacrifice be enough to reset the universe?