Paste
Black filmmaker Rick Famuyiwa will replace another director for the upcoming Warner Bros. feature The Flash. The Nigerian-American most recently completed work on his HBO movie Confirmation, and will replace the original director who also wrote the movie’s script.
The Hollywood Reporter reports Seth Grahame-Smith was going to make his directorial debut in the film based on the DC Comics superhero. However, he parted ways with the studio in April over creative differences.
The movie will keep the original script, though Screen Rant says Famuyiwa will likely re-write it since the 42-year-old wrote 2015’s coming-of-age flick Dope, which earned a best editing award at Sundance that same year. The filmmaker also wrote and directed most of his other movies, including 1999’s The Wood and 2002’s Brown Sugar and 2010’s Our Family Wedding.
The Flash will be released March 16, 2018.
The change in directors follows a recent increase in Black filmmakers working on unique projects.
Earlier this month, Atlanta Black Star reported African-Americans Seith Mann and Gregory Allen were signed on to direct and write the script for a Harriet Tubman biopic in development. Charles D. King and Debra Martin Chase are two Black producers also attached to the movie.
Ava Duvernay has worked on several films in recent years and was notably praised for her work on 2014’s Selma. Like Famuyiwa’s involvement in a comic book film adaptation, she was offered the chance to direct Marvel’s upcoming Black Panther movie last year. However, she turned it down because there was “too much compromise” involved. Director Ryan Coogler took her place instead.
