Under other circumstances, it could have been a glorious summer for any actor with dreams of stardom. And yet, for Ezra Miller nothing could have been worse. In mid-June, The Flash, a Warner Brothers blockbuster with a cost of 200 million euros, was released in large theaters almost everywhere in the world in which he had the leading role and appeared in most of the scenes. A few days before, Daliland, a film with the potential for awards, had arrived in US art theaters in which he played a young Salvador Dalí, while the role of the painter as an older man had fallen to Oscar winner Ben Kingsley.
The double combination could have made him the man of the moment, even more so considering that Ezra came out of the closet in 2012 and declared himself non-binary in 2018, so he could also have become a champion of the LGBTQ cause, but for Miller it was the beginning of the end. Despite the good reviews received, the film directed by the Argentine who has lived in Barcelona for many years, Andy Muschetti, became an embarrassment that will continue to be talked about for years, largely due to Miller, who in the year before the premiere he was the protagonist of a series of incidents in Hawaii and Vermont that destroyed his public image and brought him to justice, turning the promotional campaign into a true nightmare for the studio.
The truth is that although today it continues to be projected in some theaters, The Flash already has the record of being the superhero movie that has done the worst at the box office in the history of the genre and it is estimated that the losses that Warner Bros. will be around 180 million euros, since marketing costs must be added to the production costs. And although Daliland received good reviews, and there was no shortage of those who -such as the prestigious critic Owen Gleiberman of Variety- pointed out the amazing resemblance that Ezra has with the Catalan painter in his youth, the film went completely unnoticed in theaters in the United States, grossing just 74,000 euros.
Certainly the storm and the good opportunity have passed. Miller has resolved all his legal cases, including breaking into a neighbor's house to steal bottles of alcohol, for which he had to pay a fine of 450 euros, undergo a year's probation and therapy, as well as that of having improperly related to a child under 12 years of age, an accusation that was dismissed by a court in Greenfield, Massachusetts, which revoked a restraining order previously issued against him. In a rare press release, Ezra noted shortly thereafter: "I implore those members of the press who have negligently spread false claims and failed to accurately report the truth and context of this story to follow high standards and take the time to to verify the facts, instead of looking for the clicks”, pointing to the sensationalist media that has not given him respite in recent times.
He also stressed that he continues with the psychological treatment that he made public last year, "to resolve complex mental health issues." With a personal fortune estimated at 3.6 million euros, accumulated thanks to his previous participation in other DC Comics productions and having played Clarence Barebone in various installments of the Fantastic Beasts franchise, who became the great promise of Hollywood At just 18 years old thanks to his role in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, he will have to keep a low profile in the coming years until he gets the opportunity for the industry to forgive him.
For now, Miller continues to be represented by CAA, one of the most powerful talent agencies in Hollywood, and only has one project left on his hands, an independent film announced in 2019 titled The Mourner in which he will play a character named Michael who he travels all over the United States watching over people he doesn't know.
Is there a future for Ezra? If he manages to stay away from the headlines of the police section, it is very possible. It would not be the first time that Hollywood forgets strange incidents to recover a talent. The most emblematic case is undoubtedly that of Robert Downey Jr., who became untouchable after a series of legal problems linked to drug use in the late 1990s and was not only pardoned, but managed to become a superstar thanks to his association with Marvel.
