John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein Say Their Version Of The ‘Flash’ Movie Would Have Had An “Aimless” Non-Batman Take On Bruce Wayne [Interview]

As part of their recent “Mayday” interview with The Playlist, directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein briefly talked to our Mike DeAngelo about their earlier iteration of the “Flash” movie script before it was reworked by Christina Hodson (the two ended up with story credit on the DC Comics film).

The big kicker with their take on the “Flash” would have seen a version of Bruce Wayne where he had never become Batman, and would have just been this billionaire playboy having to take on the heroic persona (assumed to have been played by another actor). So, not the version Michael Keaton ended up playing in the version helmed by Andy Muschietti, which attempted to capitalize on the nostalgia of those original two Tim Burton movies with the Oscar-winner reprising the Dark Knight for the Multiverse DC flick.

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MIKE DEANGELO: They are giving me the wrap, but I am a huge “Flash” guy. I know you guys had a hand in the script there. I don’t know how much ended up on the screen, but I always wanted to ask you: what of your script survived, if anything?

JOHN FRANCIS DALEY: An element of him and his slightly younger self embarking on the journey together. Everything else was kind of different. We had a version where Bruce Wayne never became Batman. And so he was just this sort of billionaire party boy who’s aimless and doesn’t know what to do with his life. And we love the idea of sort of thrusting him into a hero position. That is not in the film. They made it Michael Keaton’s Batman. So not a lot survived.

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Curious how fickle DC Comics fans would have embraced that take on an “aimless Bruce Wayne,” given their hyper-obsession with Batman. I guess we’ll never know, but we’re hopeful the duo will circle back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe after penning the story/screenplay for “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” launching the Tom Holland era of the Webhead.

“Mayday” heads to Apple TV on September 4, which stars Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh as a pair of unlikely cohorts as an American pilot crashes behind enemy lines in Soviet territory.

-Additional contributions by Mike DeAngelo and Rodrigo Perez

Christopher Marc
Christopher Marc
Christopher Marc is lead writer at The Playlist and the primary engine behind our daily news coverage. Chris is based in Canada and tracks everything from Marvel and Star Wars developments to arthouse acquisitions and festival buzz with equal enthusiasm and an instinct for the story readers actually want to read.

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