DOPE’s Rick Famuyiwa Gets Speedy For THE FLASH

A month or so ago The Flash lost its director, Seth Grahame-Smith. It happened in the weeks after Batman v Superman, and that was the first rumbling in a series of seismic shifts behind the scenes at Warner Bros when it comes to the DC movies. In the weeks since then we've seen Geoff Johns promoted up to co-run DC Films and we've seen Charles Roven -a producer who was in many ways Zack Snyder's bodyguard - shuffled off the movies. I've heard that while Grahame-Smith was a victim of post-BvS panic the rest of the WB moves have been in service of course correcting the DC movieverse, and so I have waited to see how the powers-that-be would fill the void on The Flash. What kind of a filmmaker would they get to replace Grahame-Smith, and what would the hiring tell us about the future of the DC movies?

Today it became official: Rick Famuyiwa has the job. Famuyiwa's latest film was the very well-received Dope, and I think his hiring speaks volumes. Dope is a movie that has heavy themes but also has a lightness to it, and a sense of fun. Famuyiwa's movie definitely goes to darker places, but it never does so at the expense of likable characters. His casting in that movie is also top notch; while the leads of The Flash have already been chosen - it's going to be a buddy movie between The Flash and Cyborg, if they're sticking with the basic story they have now (and I've heard they are) - there are a lot of important supporting roles yet to be cast. Also: Famuyiwa isn't afraid of shooting in the daytime. 

Caveat: I don't like Dope! But my problems with the movie are problems with that movie and not necessarily with Famuyiwa's directing. There is stuff to like in Dope, and I do understand why people like it. In fact I think that Famuyiwa's skills might be better used in a big blockbuster than in a smaller indie.