Tthanks to one of the most notorious fan campaigns of all time, Warner Bros. Pictures released Zack Snyder’s Justice League—Aka “The Snyder Cut” —on HBO Max Thursday.
Despite the ardent campaign to reveal what the original director’s film would look like before Joss Whedon came on the scene, Snyder’s cut received mixed reviews. The film also opens after Warner Bros. chose to side with DC Films President Walter Hamada – whom cyborg actor Ray Fisher accused of attempting to undermine an investigation of misconduct on racist and abusive behavior in the Justice League defined in order to protect his “friend and former co-president”, producer Geoff Johns. (The statement by a WarnerMedia representative said, in part, that “an extensive investigation was conducted by an outside law firm, led by a former federal judge who assured WarnerMedia that there were no impediments to the investigation.”)
But the discussion over the film’s release seems to ignore another controversy that emerged last spring – one that, in a way, seems to have been lost in the early days of the pandemic-induced quarantine.
In early April, an online video appeared in which The Flash actor Ezra Miller appeared to smother a woman and drop her on the floor.
The video, taken outside in the snow, lasts only seven seconds. Miller, dressed in a red coat, shouts, “Did you want to fight? Is that the deal? ”The woman approaches them, waving her arms and apparently smiling. Miller grabs her by the neck and pushes her back against a metal container before pushing her to the floor while another voice – apparently that of the cameraman – says, “Wow, man, man, man.”
The camera goes down before the clip ends abruptly.
The video appeared on Twitter and Reddit, but was widely treated as a rumor. But Variety managed to confirm the incident with a source shortly after the clip materialized.
The incident was said to have occurred outside the Prikið Kaffihús bar and cafe in Reykjavík, Iceland. A drinking fountain source confirmed for Variety that the incident occurred on April 1 at around 6 pm, when some “quite insistent” fans approached the actor.
Although some online at the time believed that the video was some kind of prank, or perhaps taken out of context, the source said Variety it was a serious altercation. They also confirmed that the person involved was Miller. (The Daily Beast reached out to one of the original posters in the video and to Prikið for more details, but got no response.)
In the end, the source said, the Prikið team escorted Miller off the scene.
“Although some online believed at the time that the video was some kind of joke, or perhaps out of context, the source told Variety that it was a serious fight. “
Reykjavík Metropolitan Police press officer Gunnar Rúnar Sveinbjörnsson told the Daily Beast by email that the police were not called to the scene and that no one was arrested or placed in custody.
Warner Bros. representatives Pictures and HBO Max did not respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment.
Miller, who uses the pronouns they, had their first career break in the early 2010s – first with the psychological thriller of 2011 We need to talk about Kevin, and a year later with the drama of adulthood The perks of Being a Wallflower. After a harrowing curve The Stanford Prison Experiment in 2015, Miller made a breakthrough in 2016, debuting as much as The Flash in Suicide squad and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but also as Credence Barebone in Fantastic animals and where to find them.
And so, Miller remains a key ingredient in two huge Warner franchises. Fantastic animals will launch its third installment next year (without Johnny Depp) and then 2022 will bring Miller the autonomous vehicle Flash-in which they will star opposite Kiersey Clemons as Iris West. Michael Keaton is also on board to repeat his role as Batman.
As Miller’s star continues to rise, the silence around the video will become more evident.