‘The Flash’ Director Got a Huge ‘Confidence Boost’ When Tom Cruise Called to Praise the Film

Tom Cruise wanted to make sure “The Flash” team knew they had completed an (almost) impossible mission with a standout superhero film.

“The Flash” director Andy Muschietti confirmed that the “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning” icon reached out after viewing an early cut of the completed film to “praise” the DCU tentpole feature starring Ezra Miller.

“[We got] more confidence in the thing that we did, because the movie was finished by the time that [Cruise] saw it, so it was a confidence boost if anything,” Muschietti told Games Radar.

Producer Barbara Muschietti added, “It’s a very cynical industry, and to hear people that really have no skin in the game, because they have nothing to gain, just say something that lovely. In the case of Tom Cruise, he called us, talked for 15 minutes, praising Andy, praising the film, and it just feels very good because we really work very hard to make these movies.”

Sources told The Hollywood Reporter in March 2023 that Cruise allegedly had seen the film in late February following a meeting with Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav.

Andy Muschietti also revealed that he contacted “Justice League” director Zack Snyder to assure “The Flash” would be “respectful” to the DC cinematic universe Snyder built.

“I talked to Zack, but it wasn’t technical or narrative or anything. I just wanted to reach out and say, ‘Hey,'” he said. “Because we haven’t met before, and I just wanted to tell him that we would be respectful to the stuff that he did before.”

Muschietti continued, “‘Man of Steel’ obviously is foundational to this movie because the big threat of Zod [Michael Shannon] coming to Earth is a big twist in this story, and it’s something that most DC fans know very well. And that’s one of the great things that can form the narrative of this movie.”

Lead star Miller recently thanked Snyder onstage at “The Flash” premiere, as well as DC Studios co-heads Peter Safran and James Gunn for their “grace and discernment” amid Miller’s mental health crises, multiple arrests, and allegations of assault and grooming.