The Flash’s Ezra Miller may be down, but is not to be counted out
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Actor Ezra Miller at the world premiere of The Flash in Los Angeles, California, on Monday.
PHOTO: AFP
SINGAPORE – It was an uncomfortable way to launch a movie.
On Monday night, Ezra Miller showed up at the Los Angeles premiere to mark the release of superhero movie The Flash, in which the American actor takes the title role. Miller made a brief speech, then left without taking questions from the press.
It was the first time the 30-year-old had been seen in public since going into treatment in August 2022 for – according to a public apology – “complex mental health issues”.
To recap: Miller could not stay out of the news in 2022.
The performer left a trail of havoc from Hawaii to Vermont, leading to arrests on several occasions.
The question now is: Will Miller come back as The Flash in the sequel? A more basic question: Is the actor’s career over?
A glance at Hollywood history will show that the short answer is that if you are a hot actor, you would have to shoot someone in broad daylight to be cancelled.
Stars have been arrested, even jailed, for the crimes of which Miller has been accused: Trespassing, drunkenness, physical and mental abuse and having strange religious beliefs.
Robert Downey Jr is a popular and well-respected actor who once suffered a spectacular fall. The star, who was Oscar-nominated for the title role in the biopic Chaplin (1992), and who played the shady journalist Wayne Gale in the crime thriller Natural Born Killers (1994), had by 1996 begun shuttling between drug rehab and jail.
He was arrested for trespassing, in the most ignominious fashion. He had entered a neighbour’s home without permission, undressed, then passed out on a child’s bed.
Having declared himself sober by 2000, he went on to do critically acclaimed work on the television comedy-drama Ally McBeal. Two seasons went by, then he relapsed and was fired.
With the help of producer-wife Susan Levin, he found sobriety. Through friends, he found work. He landed the Marvel hit Iron Man (2008) and has since become a solid, dependable A-lister – and, by all reports, a good husband and father.
Through Miller’s 2022 travails, it must be noted that, unlike Downey Jr, the younger actor has not been sent to prison.
Argentine director Andy Muschietti (left) and American actor Ezra Miller at the world premiere of The Flash in Los Angeles, California, on Monday.
PHOTO: AFP
Earlier in 2023, the star of The Flash pleaded guilty to a charge of trespass to escape jail time, and would instead serve a year’s probation and pay a US$500 (S$671) fine. Compared with Downey Jr, Miller is a lightweight in the trespassing and intoxication departments.
What about strange religious convictions? Miller has been reported to hold a literal form of the white saviour complex, considering oneself to be a divine being who will bring salvation to the indigenous peoples of the world – this, from a person known to be fully Caucasian.
Miller is safe on that issue because the big studios have no problems with bizarro beliefs.
If they did, British actress Letitia Wright, who found global fame with Marvel’s Black Panther (2018), would have been replaced or written out of the sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022).
At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, she reposted an anti-vaccination video with racist anti-China overtones. Then she flew from Britain to the United States to film the sequel while declining to discuss her vaccination status. Marvel Studios, instead of urging openness, threw its weight behind her, declaring it a private matter.
The elephant in the room of fringe religious beliefs is, of course, Scientology, a religion notorious for the alleged exploitation of its believers and its popularity among the creatives of Hollywood.
The Flash stars Ezra Miller (background) as a superhero who uses his speed to go back in time to change the past.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF WARNER BROS PICTURES & DC COMICS
Tom Cruise has never been hurt by his association with the religion. Neither has John Travolta or Elisabeth Moss, nor have many other celebrities.
Here comes the trickiest section: Actors who have been accused of physical or mental abuse. What becomes of them?
One factor that will count in Miller’s comeback is that, while the list of allegations includes harassment and an inappropriate relationship with a minor, sexual assault is not among them.
More importantly, no group of victims has stepped up to hurl assault accusations at Miller.
This #MeToo factor has, in recent years, been the nail in the coffin of careers.
These include Kevin Spacey, charged with sexual assault has been convicted of rape,
However, there are personalities so bulletproof that they can face their #MeToo moment and yet evade real punishment. Former American president Donald Trump has over the decades attracted allegations of sexual misconduct from at least 25 women. He remains free and popular.
So, while the immediate prognosis for Miller’s career looks dim, if The Flash is a hit – and there is a good chance it will be – the actor will, like the character of Barry Allen, be zooming back.
