The Flash in the Media

[SevenStars]

9 minutes ago, adora721 said:

Why is Batwoman such an overwhelming presence at the center when she's the newcomer?

Who forgot to tell the artist that Cisco is no longer Vibe?

I think the reason Baywoman is such a big presence is because it is a new show and they want to use the cross-over to help it gain success. 

As for Cisco being Vibe. Just because Earth1 Cisco is no longer Vibe, doesn't mean there is no Vibe on other earths. With that said, the PR people probably just didn't care and spoil Cisco gaining back his power. 

[SimoneS]

Flash-90 is on the poster. His world was destroyed so I am still holding to my idea that he is the Flash dying. 

Maybe the Monitor gives Cisco his powers back temporarily. 

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EW putting out a specialty publication to promote COIE:  'It's Entertainment Weekly's Ultimate Guide to the Arrowverse'

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...

Inside, we jump in the Waverider and take a trip through time-stream, exploring how super-producer Greg Berlanti and company built this unexpected and unplanned shared universe on television — from the inception of Arrow, the series that lit the spark, to the ambitious five-hour extravaganza coming this winter, and every stop along the way.

Beyond that, though, the special issue also features an exclusive roundtable interview with the zany cast of Legends of Tomorrow; Q&As with Stephen Amell, Melissa Benoist, Ruby Rose, and Grant Gustin; a cheat-sheet for the previous five crossovers; a breakdown of the many heroes and villains that populate the universe; a behind-the-scenes look at each show; and more.

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They also mention the aftershow as being an EW production:

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For expert analysis, interviews, and scene breakdowns, watch EW’s official “Crisis” after-show, Crisis: Aftermath, hosted by Kevin Smith and immediately airing at 9 p.m. after Supergirl (Dec. 8) and The Flash (Dec. 10).

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I think Wallace is overselling this plot, but okay: 'The Flash boss explains what that Nash Wells twist means going forward'

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“That’s really a huge launching point for his story,” showrunner Eric Wallace told reporters after a recent screening of the episode. “What Tom does so well is he’s very friendly most of the time, but this is a more abrasive character. So he’s a man of action and when he stops, looks back at someone in a caring way (not a creepy way), loving, it means something that definitely plays — and also it’s gotta tie into what it means for ‘Crisis [on Infinite Earths],’ what does it mean for after ‘Crisis.”

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Five-minute segment (video) with a Sendhil Ramamurthy interview, and a short clip from tomorrow's episode at WPIX.

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Sendhil Ramamurthy interview at TVLine, previewing the next episode:

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TVLINE | What is the nature of the Ramsey/Barry’s scenes in Part 1? I see photos of the two of you talking, and Ramsey looks normal and level-headed….

Basically, they’re kind of going through the same thing right now [trying to elude death]. This is a two-parter, and the first part is more about one long conversation between Ramsey and Barry, about their particular circumstances and why they find themselves in this situation. Sometimes when you get dialogue-heavy episodes in genre shows, it can get kind of monotonous. But here, because of the subject matter, and hopefully it performs well, I think it will be interesting TV to watch.

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TVLINE | Tell me, when you are there on set, doing what will eventually be an effects-heavy scene, how ridiculous do you look jutting out your arm to mime your manipulation of goo? 

Um, I’d say that on a scale of 1 to 10, it’s a 12. [Laughs] I'm not going to lie to you, it feels pretty silly sticking your arm out and nothing’s happening. And you don’t know what they’re going to do, how it’s going to look…. It’s definitely a struggle sometimes, but Grant [Gustin] and I have a good time. We’ve both been doing the genre thing for a minute now, so we can appreciate the ridiculousness of that situation.

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More of Sendhil's press interview at EW: 'Sendhil Ramamurthy teases Bloodwork's evolution in the fall finale'

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ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The final scene in the last episode was the most Bloodwork-esque we’ve seen Ramsey so far.

Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet. We’re going to go much further as these episodes go on. Bloodwork’s look kind of evolves all the way through the next two episodes, which is really cool. It was really cool to see. It wasn’t really cool to do at all; it was very not fun to do.

Showrunner Eric Wallace describes these episodes as “cuckoo crazy dark town.” Do you agree with that assessment?

One hundred percent. I was texting him, “How far do I go? What would you say is too far from this?” He’s like, “You can’t go too far. This guy has lost his marbles at this point, so go with it and have fun.” And he’s like, “I trust you enough as an actor that you’re going to keep it grounded enough to where it’s not going to be just so out there that it’s not going to be believable,” which gave me (A) confidence, and (B) just the fact that there are no parameters, really. I was given free rein, which is pretty rare for an actor. They’re usually trying to rein us in, and Eric just gave me the freedom to go for it.

He also has high praise for the episode and Grant in particular.

Edited November 27, 2019 by Trini

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Another Ramamurthy interview at TV Insider: 'Sendhil Ramamurthy Previews a 'Very Different' Face-Off'

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Are you having the best time ever playing this guy?

Sendhil Ramamurthy: It's a lot of fun, I can't lie. [Laughs] As an actor, when you don't have the pressure to be likable all the time, it's super freeing because you come into this knowing that the audience knows you're the villain. On the other hand, you want him to kind of sympathetic...that people will at least try to understand and relate to him. Because he's clearly going about things the wrong way, but we can kind of sympathize with what he's going through. Not that it justifies what he's doing, but you always need to make your case. Like, you don't want to just be this mustache-twirling villain. He's not just doing it for the sake of being evil.

...

So is it really as you and Grant talking in various settings?

Yeah. I mean, it is a long conversation and very different for the show from what I gathered. Grant kept saying, "This is going to be different for our show." And I think it's something that the show has earned over five seasons, to be able to do something like this. I really enjoyed it. I just thought it was something that was super cool and very different. I've done some genre in my time and this was very different for me, as well.

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Sendhil Ramamurthy interview at CBS Philidelphia; he talks a little bit about working on The Flash in the last two minutes:

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Some BTS for 6.06:

 

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Behind-the-scenes pic and Thanksgiving message:

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Another cast pic shared by Sendhil Ramamurthy:

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Grant Gustin is TVLine's Performer of the Week:

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THE PERFORMER | Grant Gustin

THE SHOW | The Flash

THE EPISODE | “The Last Temptation of Barry Allen, Pt. 1” (Nov. 26, 2019)

THE PERFORMANCE | When you torture Barry Allen, you torture all of us. But under the category of “silver lining,” you also, without fail, elicit an especially moving performance by Grant Gustin.

As if Barry didn’t have enough to worry about with the looming Crisis/his unavoidable death and all, this week he found himself face to face with Dr. Ramsey Rosso, for a conversation that took a darkly surreal turn.  Barry got his first sense that something was amiss when Ramsey casually revealed that he is aware of the CSI’s superhero identity. Then, the view from the West-Allens’ loft window turned suddenly apocalyptic, in the vein of the fiery Crisis that Barry sneak-peeked earlier in the season. Eventually, the Speed Force — in the form of Barry’s late mother Nora (Michelle Harrison, again helping bring out some of Gustin’s finest work) — informed Barry that his cells had been infected by Rosso, who aimed to take control of Flash. As this stark terror dawned on Barry, Gustin conveyed every bit of the hero’s despair.

Usually, Barry emerges triumphant over such a setback. But the resolution here was far from as simple. No, Ramsey used the infection to skew his victim’s perception of truth, and Gustin had us wincing at Barry’s susceptibility. All the while, the Speed Force urged Barry to resist. A tug-of-war for his free will was afoot, and as Barry was figuratively torn, so were our hearts.

Team Flash for a fleeting moment thought Barry fended off Ramsey’s takeover. But with a final, very unsettling button on his performance, Gustin added just enough coldness to tip off Iris, and us, that the beloved Barry had in fact lost.

[SevenStars]

14 minutes ago, Trini said:

Grant Gustin is TVLine's Performer of the Week:

He deserves it.

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Candice Patton interview and photo shoot at Schön Magazine: https://schonmagazine.com/interview-candice-patton/

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Because of The Flash, you’ve also made appearances in other Arrowverse shows. When you first joined The Flash, did you anticipate such a large universe? How has it felt to see the world continue to grow? 

I didn’t anticipate such a large universe at the time, but I guess we all should have seen it coming with how popular the genre is. I’ve always wondered about the audiences fatiguing with all the content available these days, but after six years in this world, it still seems to be an in-demand genre. It’s great to watch it grow. There’s a lot of great superhero content out there now and to compete it demands that creators in the space create stories and worlds worth tuning in for.

Has your relationship to the character of Iris changed since the beginning of the show? 

She’s grown. The writing for her has improved and because of that I can breathe life into her much more and it definitely makes playing the role more engaging. 

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From one of the articles in EW Arrowverse special issue, excerpt about The Flash: 'From Arrow to 'Crisis': Inside the evolution of the Arrowverse and its crossovers'

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In a way, the road to “Crisis” began midway through Arrow’s first season when Berlanti started toying with the idea of bringing in the Scarlett Speedster, his favorite superhero. After talking to Warner Bros. TV and The CW, Glee’s Grant Gustin was introduced as a pre-superspeed Barry Allen in Arrow’s second season before headlining The Flash, which debuted in fall 2014.

Despite Arrow’s success, the producers were worried about The Flash because of the special effects required to render the hero’s powers. “It’s famously what put the original Flash show out of business years ago; they couldn’t get the episodes done in time,” says Berlanti. But The Flash did work, and remains the network’s highest-rated show six seasons later.

In December 2014 they attempted something even more adventurous: a two-night crossover between Arrow and The Flash. “[CW President] Mark Pedowitz was like, ‘I want to cross over these two shows,’” says Guggenheim. “Greg and I both grew up on The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman. In all honesty, [those two shows] were the inspiration from the crossover.” He adds, “The first Flarrow crossover was so hard at the time, but looking back on it, it was embarrassingly easy because it was a crossover in the sense that Oliver appeared on Barry’s show and Barry appeared on Oliver’s show, but the two storylines of each episode were relatively separate from each other. So, it wasn’t that narratively ambitious.”

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Six more photos from 6.08 were released by CW; TVLine has them in their gallery here: https://tvline.com/gallery/the-flash-season-6-photos/the-flash-season-6-photos-1-10/

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From EW: 'Grant Gustin shares untold story from first Flash-Arrow crossover: 'It wasn't glamorous''

[adora721]

I had forgotten that Eric had made statements about KF making amends, but at least one fan remembered in this LWG question:

"What happened to KF making amends with everyone for her past behavior? Especially to Iris and Cecile? Why do they keep complimenting her for doing the bare minimum like last night, but Iris can't get an acknowledgement also for risking her life to bring Barry out of Ramsey's control? Where's her gift to remember him by? Where's Barry's most memorable moment with her? Where's his I love you to her? I know, in that somber head nod and hand holding as the red skies show up.🙄

— Anonymous

Wow, I completely forgot about that, but you’re right, that KF storyline was supposed to be a ThingTM. I’ve reread a couple of Eric’s interviews from earlier this fall and I’m frustrated that most of what he said didn’t happen onscreen. As an example, he said this in one interview about how Crisis will impact WA: 

“As a married couple, they can count the number of days and weeks… What kind of urgency does that give them? An extreme one. It turns the dial up to 10 and it makes them think is every moment together our last? …. These are all of the things that they’re grappling with [until ‘Crisis’].” 

LMAO where was that urgency? What “moments” is he talking about? Because I sure as hell didn’t see them. "

Edited December 5, 2019 by adora721

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Yeah, I might go back over Wallace's interviews during the hiatus to compare how things he talked about turned out in the final product. Because while I get that how the perception is different between the person who makes a work and the audience who views it, some things were just way off the mark.

[adora721]

I think it's unfortunate that when the fans at SDCC ask questions, it's not about some of these important issues in the writing. Not even the actual media asks about these things; correct me if I'm wrong.

[Featherhat]

Yeah certainly no extreme urgency from them as a couple. Pretty much the opposite actually. The only moment that really comes close emotionally was Grant crying over baby Nora.

The lack of apologies and actual remorse from KF is why I don't think even if the writers think they're coddling her it isn't doing DP any favours. Because making amends and actually doing some soul searching would be a much more meaty storyline for her than okay yeah, KF is on the team now and they're throwing her a birthday party. They want KF's snark around on the team more full time because it's fun to write but they don't actually want to put the work in with the character. 

[Starry]

12 hours ago, adora721 said:

“As a married couple, they can count the number of days and weeks… What kind of urgency does that give them? An extreme one. It turns the dial up to 10 and it makes them think is every moment together our last? …. These are all of the things that they’re grappling with [until ‘Crisis’].” 

LMAO where was that urgency? What “moments” is he talking about? Because I sure as hell didn’t see them. "

The urgency was in having Iris say "let's make every moment count" only for Barry to reply that they can start with preparing the team for Crisis. Let's also not forget about that 6x08 scene and Iris saying that they have four hours left before Crisis and she doesn't want Bloodwork to take a minute away from her. But what do Barry and Iris do? Spend those hours with the team. The same Team Family who couldn't be bothered to ask Iris once about how she was coping with Barry's upcoming death or Nora's loss. And how can we forget about that off screen vacation and the fact that Iris wasn't even sure if it was the right time to leave Central City considering what was going on? She offered to go to Cynthia's funeral though. They can't leave for Tahiti but they can leave for Earth-19.

Here's the urgency and the moments. These people have metaphorically made Barry and Iris the slaves of the team.

[scarynikki12]

For the Flash only viewers who may be wondering if you'll feel lost during the crossover, Buzzfeed has a list of pre-Crisis highlights from the Arrowverse shows:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/noradominick/arrowverse-details-remember-before-crisis-on-infinite-earths

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Victoria Park (Kamilla) interview at Cultress: https://culturess.com/2019/12/06/victoria-park-flash-interview/

Excerpt:

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“I love so much about Kamilla,” Park enthused. “She’s really smart; she’s caring, she’s really driven. I think probably my favorite thing about her is her spunk. She’s just a fun gal.”

“I like that she knows who she is, too. She’s confident and she cares about people. But she’s also got a sassy side and that’s really fun to play.”

The launch of the Citizen newspaper in Central City has given her character a chance to do more than just serve as a love interest on the show. Kamilla’s photography is not just a passion for her, but a way of making a living, and it sounds as if we’ll get to see more of her building a career AND relationships at the newspaper with Iris (Candice Patton) and Allegra (Kayla Compton).

“You’ll be able to see her grow as a photographer and a reporter [as the season goes on],” Park said. “I’m really excited about that.”

This is particularly great news given the fact that the Arrowverse shows can occasionally to tell stories about women that don’t involve putting them into a romantic relationship. Happily, it sounds as though the ladies of the Citizen may be having frequent adventures of their own.

“Obviously, I can’t give away too much,” Park warned. “But I can say that Iris’ paper is [made up of]  all women now and [Kamilla] gets some really awesome Team Citizen action in the near future. I’m always for more female friendships [in the show] too, so if the writers read this then – ahem – that’s what we want!”

It’s true – Flash writers, if you’re reading this, it’s past time to show us all these incredible female characters building real relationships with one another. STAR Labs could use a little more girl talk!

“We have so many amazing women on this show, as both actors and people,” Park explained. “I’ve gotten to work with all those women and they’re all just fantastic. So, I’d love to be able to work with them more.”

[phoenics]

5 hours ago, scarynikki12 said:

For the Flash only viewers who may be wondering if you'll feel lost during the crossover, Buzzfeed has a list of pre-Crisis highlights from the Arrowverse shows:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/noradominick/arrowverse-details-remember-before-crisis-on-infinite-earths

Thanks.

Arrow really can't help ripping off other comic character canons, can it?

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Flash/Barry and Iris in the latest COIE trailer:

Edited December 7, 2019 by Trini

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'Crisis on Infinite Earths Is Here: How the Crossover Is Changing the Entire Arrowverse'

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Unlike crossovers of years past, which were sort of self-contained and didn't affect the regular stories of the shows involved, this crossover will have ripple effects all over the Arrowverse. We got the scoop from the showrunners and executive producers at a press screening, as well as a few cast members on everything from how it came together to what you might get to see...starting with exactly how much of an impact this event is about to have across all five shows. 

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"During the Crisis, Barry will do something that is very significant that will have ramifications for the remainder of season six of Flash," said executive producer Marc Guggenheim.

But apparently Wallace wasn't there (?), because there wasn't a quote from him.

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TV Guide videos:

Grant, Carlos, and Danielle P. here: 'The Flash and Arrow Stars Tease Crisis on Infinite Earths':

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'Danielle Panabaker Plays Who Would You Rather: Arrowverse Edition'

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[adora721]

‘The Flash’ season 6A failed the build-up to Barry’s death: https://www.hypable.com/the-flash-season-6-failed/

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Crossover behind-the-scenes featurette with clips of Grant, Candice, and Hartley:

Edited December 10, 2019 by Trini

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I like this poster a little better than the other Crisis one:

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VFX crew:

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Grant Gustin a finalist for TVLine's Performer of the year:

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Grant Gustin, The Flash

Even the fastest man alive cannot outrun misery. And while that is unfortunate for beleaguered Barry Allen, the silver lining is that viewers are rewarded with Gustin’s ability to make us feel the superhero’s woes. Whether Barry is grappling with daughter Nora’s unholy alliance with his archenemy, selflessly ensuring that everyone else will be A-OK after his fated vanishing, or mourning superfriend Oliver, Gustin finds the humanity in metahumanity.

https://tvline.com/2019/12/10/performer-of-the-year-2019-nominees-finalists/