SPOILER WARNING: Details from The Flash pilot discussed below.
Grant Gustin is on the ball.
The 24 year old star is set to pull on the boots of the scarlet speedster in the upcoming series. With any new adaptation of a comic book, the fans get apprehensive. There's always the chance that a project could end up like Steel or, *gasp*, Batman and Robin is always there. Yet, with The Flash, trepidation was a lull instead of a roar. Why? Well, Gustin, the man who is going to be the first live action fastest man alive in over a decade, totally gets it.
He is an avid reader of fan comments, a rapid tweeter, and a lover of Superman comics.
"I let myself feel the pressure a little bit because I wanted to live up to The Flash and make the fans happy," he told The Hollywood Reporter.
He holds his faith in executive producers Geoff Johns, Greg Berlanti, and Andrew Kreisburg, as well as pilot director David Nutter.
"If I had a team of people that didn't know what they were doing, I probably wouldn't have gotten this role because they would have just cast a blonde guy who was buff. They were looking for somebody who encompassed the heart of Barry Allen and at first I didn't realize it. Now that I've explored the character, the comics, read the scripts, and talked to [the producers], I understand why I got this role," he ruminated.
"It will probably forever be my favorite character I'll ever get to play," Gustin said. A bold statement considering he has yet to make the leap to the big screen.
Fans certainly have been receptive. The Flash pilot made waves at comic-con, with crowds impressed with the excellent special effects.
Fans already became acquainted with Gustin's portrayal of Barry Allen, introduced in Arrow. Unlike Stephen Amell's Green Arrow, Gustin's Flash will be established as a hero.
"By the end of the year, he will come to resemble The Flash we all know from the comic books," said Kreisberg.
Iris West (Candice Patton), Barry Allen's love interest in the comics, will be a fixture of the show but will be paired with Detective Eddie Thawne, played by Rick Cosnett.
"After the accident, Barry really wants to tell her how he feels. When he sees that she's with Eddie, it makes it clear to Barry that he feels because of how it makes him feel to see her with somebody else," Gustin said.
This love triangle won't get in the way of The Flash's crime-thwarting adventures though.
"He's not going to get in the middle of anything Iris has going and break her and Eddie up. He's going to watch from the outside for now and hold off on telling her."
Fans wait with baited breath to see just how the show will draw from comics lore. Robie Amell is set to play half of nuclear hero Firestorm, Wentworth Miller will battle the fastest man alive as Captain Cold, and Clancy Brown will bring military tactics to the forefront as the, rather obscure , General.
The most stirring tidbits of information though, came in the final seconds of the pilot, with the enigmatic Dr. Harrison Wells, played by Tom Cavanagh, harboring a dangerous secret.
"We're going to find out more about Harrison Wells and what the hell is going on," said Gustin. "What the coolest thing about that moment, to me, is they're setting up the fact that the Flashpoint story line could potentially happen- that Speed Force could be an aspect and time travel is potentially a part of the show." said Gustin, and the fans exploded. Flashpoint? The mega-event that led to the reboot of the DC universe? Whew.
How this would go down with the rabid bunch that is comic fans remains to be seen, but with this team at the helm, maybe it won't be such a bloodbath.
"Once you have the job, you have the job and you've got to do it," says Gustin. Lets hope it's a good one.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
