Former The Flash Directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein Address Their Exit

The Flash movie has moved at anything but the speed of Barry Allen. The film has been on DC’s development slate for years but has yet to go into production. Along the way, a handful of directors have been attached to the movie only to later depart and inevitably be replaced. Among those who were once expected to bring The Flash to the big screen wee John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. The duo has an impressive resumé together, including titles like Game Night and the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons. In a recent interview, the duo offered a bit of insight in regards to what their The Flash might have looked like.

“The challenge is to approach it as you would a much smaller movie, and not get caught up in the fact that you have $100 million-plus to spend and start thinking about the biggest set pieces you can construct,” Goldstein told THR. “Rather, focus on the stuff that makes it special and makes an audience invest — and that’s the characters. That’s in the stuff you don’t need a lot of money to do right. That’s how we approached The Flash and that’s how we’re approaching D&D.”

The directors also penned Spider-Man: Homecoming, a film directed by Jon Watts and beloved by many Marvel fans. They took the same approach there. “It’s how we approached Spider-Man, too,” Daley said. “Our favorite scene that we wrote in the movie was the scene in the car where Michael Keaton is driving Tom Holland to the dance. It was probably the least visual spectacle of that whole film.”

Still, the pair is certainly not out of the loop on what’s going on at DC. They also weighed in on Zack Snyder’s Justice League heading to HBO Max. “It’s about time,” Goldstein said. “There’s been such a movement trying to get that to happen. It also aligns with new corporate needs — they have a new platform to promote. I’m curious to see what the difference is after all of this.”

Daley adds: “Apparently they are spending $20 million to polish up some of the unfinished effects work and stuff, which is kind of mind-boggling to me, because that’s the cost of a lower-budget movie.”

As it stands now, IT director Andy Muschietti is going to helm The Flash which is scheduled to be released on June 2, 2022.