A plot and cast to help DC Comics get the long-awaited comic adaptation moving again.
Now that The Dark Knight has raked in more money than Jesus, Warner Brothers is reportedly looking to bring as many of DC Comics’ stable of heroes as possible to the big screen in a big hurry. Eli Stone showrunner Marc Guggenheim has turned in a script for a Green Lantern movie, and there was plenty of speculation on the Interweb last week that Dark Knight scribe David Goyer’s Green Arrow-led Super Max may get the fast track treatment.
But DC’s had another project stalled in development for several years now: the super-speed hero The Flash, who while eluding the widespread popularity of Batman and Superman has remained one of the company’s most durable franchises for close to seventy years. IMDB currently has a film slated for a 2010 release date, but we remember when the date was 2005. With that in mind, here are our suggestions for making the movie right. Hopefully, they’ll speed things up on DC’s end (so to speak.)
The Plot: College student Wally West grew up as the speed-powered sidekick to Barry Allen, the Flash of the previous generation. When Allen vanished on a mission with the Justice League, West gave up his Kid Flash identity and settled into a normal teenage existence. Five years later, several of their old enemies have resurfaced, igniting a crime wave through Central City. Better organized and less impulsive than Batman’s villains or Superman’s adversaries, this “Rogues Gallery” carries out crimes with exact speed and precision, as if guided by a central intelligence.
West is recruited to help by Jay Garrick, the original Flash from before Allen’s time. To do so, West must learn to use his own speed all over again, tapping into the Speed Force energy dimension that grants all speedsters their powers like never before and becoming faster than the intelligence guiding the villains – effectively running faster than the bad guys can think.
The Director: Any number of directors has been attached to the project so far, ranging from David Goyer (The Dark Knight) to David Dobkin (The Wedding Crashers). For our money, either Joe Carnahan (Smokin’ Aces) or Len Wiseman (Underworld) could convincingly bring the high-velocity effects to life.
The Cast:
Jamie Bell as Wally West: A role connected for years with Ryan Reynolds, West has to be both youthful and mature at the same time. Bell tried his best not to steal every scene in 2008′s Jumper from Hayden Christensen – and it happened anyway. So he’s used to working with special effects believably, and he even looks the part.
Terry O’Quinn as Jay Garrick: Playing the Obi-Wan Kenobi to West’s Luke Skywalker, Garrick was the original Flash during World War II and until passing the torch to Barry Allen. Kept comparatively youthful by the Speed Force, he’s come out of retirement to help West get back on track. Nobody plays serene, almost cocky calm like O’Quinn (Lost), and he’d be great in a Jedi Master role such as this.
Anthony Edwards as Barry Allen: Hero, scientist, and legend even among other heroes, Allen is the kind of father figure that’s almost impossible to measure up to. Edwards honed his steady-handed mentor skills during all those years on ER, and he has Allen’s reserved Midwestern gravitas to boot.
Joan Allen as Iris Allen: Allen’s widow and West’s loving aunt, Iris is a crusading journalist and the conscience of all three Flashes. Allen, who can agree to this role if she can stoop to appear in Death Race, has played similarly strong women in The Bourne Ultimatum and The Contender.
Grace Park as Linda Park: Continuing the nifty coincidence that the Flashs’ love interests be played by actresses with the same last name, Linda Park is a young med student and West’s true romance. Born in Korea but educated in Central City, Missouri, she’s both exotic beauty and the girl next door. Grace Park hasn’t really got a chance to relax and play sweet on either Hawaii Five-O or Battlestar Galactica yet, and she’s got the poise and charm for the role.
Paul Guilfoyle as Captain Cold. The leader of the Rogues, Leonard Snart is a blue-collar crook who rules the villain fraternity with an iron fist. He’s smart, obstinate, and yet carries a weird sense of honor that prohibits killing and admits a grudging but deep respect for the fallen Allen. Guilfoyle has played pugnacious cops and crooks for two decades, but never one with a gun that freezes all the moisture in any given room.
Sam Rockwell as The Weather Wizard: Vain and obnoxious, the Weather Wizard has a wand that controls… guess what. Disliked even by his fellow Rogues, his selfish jackass persona is a part Rockwell (Confessions of A Dangerous Mind, Matchstick Men) routinely plays with snakelike perfection.
Robert Carlyle as The Mirror Master: Possessing one of the creepier gimmicks in comics, Scottish thug Evan McCulloch uses mirrors to move between dimensions, hypnotize victims, and appear anywhere instantly. He’s also got a cocaine habit that keeps him hiding secrets from his fellow Rogues and carrying out crime-for-hire work on the side. So he’s basically Francis Begbie as a supervillain.
John C. Reilly as Heat Wave: Anguished and self-loathing, as a boy Mick Rory’s pyromania led him to burn down his family’s house – while they were still inside. Now equipped with a flame-throwing pistol and gallons of propellant strapped to his back, he’s the least malicious of the Rogues but, thanks to his obsession, also the most dangerous. Reilly (The Perfect Storm, Magnolia) specializes in portraying slow-boiling anguish, and seeing him play off the other Rogues, especially natural antagonist Captain Cold, could drive the group’s dramatic tension.
Michael Wincott as Gorilla Grodd (voice): Grodd is literally the 800-lb gorilla in the room, a super-evolved ape with telepathy and mind-control powers that wants to kill the entire human race so that his own gorilla nation can replace us. Seriously, what better Big Bad than an evil, mind-controlling ape? Though sorely missing from movie screens in recent years, Wincott (Strange Days, The Count of Monte Crisco) has the gravelly growl to make what could be an otherwise silly character become deadly serious.
- Michael Kabel
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