The Flash and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore star Ezra Miller may not have a future in the DCEU or Wizarding World as Warner Bros. executives meet over the actor's repeated violent behavior.
Rolling Stone is reporting that WB execs held an emergency meeting on March 30 to discuss the recent arrest of Miller and their repeated problematic actions. According to the outlet's sources, "the consensus in the room was to hit pause on any future projects involving Miller including possible appearances in the DC Cinematic Universe." The last-minute meeting followed a pair of incidents while the actor was in Hawaii.
On March 28, Miller was arrested on charges of harassment and disorderly conduct in Hawaii after an altercation with two bar patrons. According to a report filed by the Hawai'i Police Department, Miller was at a bar, yelling obscenities at visitors singing karaoke. They then "grabbed the microphone from a 23-year-old woman singing karaoke (disorderly conduct offense) and later lunged at a 32-year-old man playing darts (harassment offense). The bar owner asked Miller to calm down several times to no avail." Bail was set at $500, which Miller paid before being released.
After their release on bail, a couple the actor was staying with then filed a restraining order against Miller on March 29 for allegedly threatening to kill the couple. The couple issued a petition for a temporary restraining order, claiming the actor threatened to kill them and stole the woman’s passport and the man’s wallet, including a social security card, a driver’s license, and bank cards. According to the court document, Miller allegedly "burst" into the couple's bedroom, saying, "I will bury you and your slut wife." A judge granted a temporary restraining order and is considering an extension.
The two incidents aren't the only ones, either, as Miller was filmed choking a woman in 2020. In April of that year, a video surfaced showing the Justice League star assaulting a woman at a bar in Reykjavik, Iceland. The video showed Miller interacting with a fan before the woman approached them and seemingly joked about having a fight. Miller responded, "Oh, you wanna fight? That's what you wanna do?" before grabbing her by the throat. Miller then threw the woman to the floor with their hands around her neck, which is when the person filming attempted to intervene and ended the recording.
The footage resulted in immediate backlash, including from former Flash director John Francis Daley, who appeared to suggest this behavior was nothing new. On social media, the director glibly wrote "Creative differences" in response to the video. Daley was one of several directors attached to The Flash over its long and troubled development. He departed the project, along with co-director Jonathan Goldstein, based on creative differences with Miller. Despite the footage and backlash, Warner Bros. did not pull Miller from either of their upcoming releases with the studio at the time.
The notion that Miller has long been difficult to work with on set was also brought up in the new report. One source told Rolling Stone that the actor had "frequent meltdowns" while filming The Flash. The source described Miller as "losing it," saying "Ezra would get a thought in [their] head and say, 'I don’t know what I’m doing.'"
Warner Bros. has yet to make a public statement about any of the past or present incidents involving Miller or their future with the studio. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore will hit theaters April 15, 2022. The Flash is currently scheduled for release on June 23, 2023.
Source: Rolling Stone