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With the loss of Rick Famuyiwa this past October from the director’s chair, which itself followed the loss of Seth Grahame-Smith, the original director of ‘The Flash,’ Warner Bros is on the hunt for a new director to the speedster franchise, but the good news is that they seem to be doing things the right way. They also appear to be doing a complete rewrite of the script by ‘King Arthur: Legend of the Sword’ scribe Joby Harold, and have pushed the release date back, which means they are no longer holding themselves or the production to a completely unrealistic release date, which can only be a good thing. Personally, I think it is all a result of the shake-up over at Warner Bros to release the iron grip Zack Snyder had over all of the DCEU, at least until one of his own movies proves itself with critics and audiences.

So who is on the shortlist to direct? Well, new Warner Bros president and chief content officer Toby Emmerich (formerly the COO of New Line) has made it clear he wants top talent for the DCEU. According to sources, the move to hire Matt Reeves to direct ‘The Batman’ was a sign that Warner Bros is only looking for quality filmmakers with proven track records to helm their films going forward. With that in mind, the big three names being thrown around for ‘The Flash’ at the moment are Robert Zemeckis, Sam Raimi, and Matthew Vaughn.

Raimi, of course, is known for being the man behind the original ‘Spider-Man’ trilogy, which included ‘Spider-Man 2,’ which is still considered as one of the best superhero movies to date. Vaughn is known for jumpstarting the ‘X-Men’ franchise with ‘First-Class,’ as well as the quirky superhero movie ‘Kick-Ass,’ not to mention to ‘Kingsman’ franchise which he is currently helming. All of them seem like pretty excellent choices for ‘The Flash,’ but according to The Wrap, Zemeckis is actually the front-runner, and he is actually the choice I am most interested in. The man has not really tackled a film of this type since the days of ‘Back to the Future,’ choosing instead to do more experimental or artsy films in the days since, but he is a master of special effects, clearly knows what he is doing with actors, and I believe, could put together an unforgettable ‘Flash’ movie. Supposedly he is first working on a project with Steve Carell for Universal, but it seems like Warner Bros is willing to wait for him (again, good move by Warner Bros, the audience can wait if it means a better movie), and if so, ‘The Flash’ would be his very next project.

What are your thoughts here? Could Zemeckis be our man? Any of these three could produce a great ‘The Flash’ film in my opinion, but I just think it would be interesting to see a veteran director like Zemeckis take on a superhero film. Share your opinions on the matter in the comments below!

Sources: Hollywood Reporter, TheWrap

horizontal lineNick is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles, who belongs to the privileged few who enjoyed the ending to ‘Lost.’ For more of Nick’s thoughts and articles, follow him on Twitter.