Since June, the two big projects that have been in development for the DC Comics/Warner Bros. team up have been Green Lantern 2 and The Flash. Three of the four Green Lantern writers, Greg Berlanti, Michael Green and Marc Guggenheim, had been commissioned to write treatments for both films and then choose which one they liked best. The chosen one would then be turned into a script. Earlier this month, Guggenheim reported that the treatment for The Flash had been completed and that they were now working on Green Lantern 2. Now it appears things have changed slightly, but it looks as though it is for the better.
Superhero Hype recently spoke with Berlanti, who is currently promoting his new film, Life As We Know It, and the writer/director revealed a few details about his current involvement with DC. According to Berlanti, the three men are still working on the Green Lantern 2 treatment, but that Green and Guggenheim had begun writing a full script for The Flash. He also opened up about their approach towards Barry Allen, The Flash's alter-ego, and, surprisingly, it will actually be darker than what we'll see in Green Lantern next summer, citing Allen's job as a crime scene investigator. According to Berlanti, it will find a space somewhere between Green Lantern and The Dark Knight.
"It's actually a little bit darker than when we were working on Green Lantern, because you're dealing with somebody who is already a crime-fighter in a world of those kinds of criminals and that kind of murder and homicide. I find you talk a lot about different films when you're working on a film, and we spend a lot more time talking about Se7en or The Silence of the Lambs as we construct that part of Barry's world, then I thought when we got into it. It helps balance a guy in a red suit who runs really fast."
Berlanti also said that he sees the project as balancing both sci-fi and crime elements, making it feel "visceral and real and cool and probably more in the tone of The Matrix films." As for whether or not we'll ever see a Justice League movie, where Green Lantern, Flash, Batman, Superman and the others team up, the writer-director was non-committal.
"When we have the script together, I'll probably sit down with Warner Bros. and want to decide what's best for that movie. It's so hard when you're working on the material, the script too, because if I thought about it just as a director I would freak myself out but when I think about it just as a writer, we try so many different things. It's like, 'I don't even know how we're going to do that but what if we did this or what if we showed this?' It's more freeing and liberating so I haven't really thought beyond the script right now for it."
It's a lot to take in, to say the least, but the good news is that The Flash is finally moving forward. What I'm not so thrilled about is the tone. While I understand that everyone has been in love with the idea of "dark and gritty" ever since The Dark Knight killed at the box office, bringing The Flash into the world of Se7en and The Matrix? That's a bit strange. There is some point where they have to take a step back and realize that they are making a movie about a guy who keeps a red spandex bodysuit in a ring and has lightning bolts on either side of his head.
