The Flash Cinematographer: “Complex” DC Comics Adaptation Is “Not Really a Comic Book Movie”

The Flash movie is “complex” with a “massive” scale, says cinematographer Henry Braham — but the Justice League spin-off is “not really a comic book movie.” The DC Comics adaptation, reuniting Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League co-stars Ezra Miller as the Flash and Ben Affleck as Batman, is Braham’s latest after shooting the James Gunn-directed The Suicide Squad. Ahead of the new movie racing into theaters in November 2022, Braham updates The Flash and explains why director Andy Muschietti’s brave and bold spin-off isn’t a “superhero movie”:

“[The Flash is] going great. I mean, it’s a complex movie, and it’s a fantastic concept of bringing in the generations of these kind of comic books,” Braham told Collider, adding the blockbuster comic book adaptation is “not really a comic book movie.”

“It’s not based in reality, but it’s a much more kind of technically complex — I think all the filmmakers are really keen that the technical complexity of the storytelling doesn’t get in the way of just good quality filmmaking,” said Braham, whose credits include The Legend of Tarzan and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. “Hopefully, I don’t think it’ll ever come across as a superhero movie. It will come across as a movie, and that’s what it is. I think that’s the way these things need to go. We need to be making great, great, great films that happen to have superheroes who have truthful characters behind them, with all the character flaws that we find in humanity.”

Michael Keaton’s Batman returns alongside fellow DC Extended Universe newcomer Sasha Calle, who plays Superman’s Kryptonian cousin Supergirl.

“It’s a pleasure working with the cast, as they’re fantastic. Michael, of course, is a genius, and it’s wonderful to see him recreate that role but in the present day. It’s wonderful,” Braham said of Keaton’s 30-years-later Batman comeback. “I think the movie has a massive scope, and I’m lucky to be able to work on movies I’d like to go and see. I’m not really interested in comic book movies. I’m interested in movies that take me on a journey, an emotional journey, and a visual journey.”

The Flash features top-shelf visual effects supervised by John “DJ” Desjardin (Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Godzilla vs. Kong), but for Braham, combining the technological side with the storytelling side “can be beautiful, and it can be emotional.”

Braham added: “On the one hand, you have the kind of technical thing of when, what, and how. But it’s like all filmmaking, it’s about kind figuring out an idea so that you don’t really think about it. You don’t think, ‘Oh.’ It becomes a natural part of the storytelling, so yeah. It’s fairly enjoyable, and fun to do.”

Warner Bros. has scheduled The Flash to open in theaters on November 4, 2022.