Posted in: Flash, Movies, Warner Bros | Tagged: sasha calle, The Flash
Sasha Calle Says The Flash Press Tour Was "Very Hard" & "Bittersweet"
Due to the controversy surrounding Ezra Miller, Sasha Calle was pushed front and center for The Flash press tour. She described it as "very rough."
Article Summary
- Sasha Calle describes The Flash press tour as "very hard."
- Facing tough questions, Calle reflects on her bittersweet experience promoting the film.
- Calle shares insights on missing out on future Supergirl roles despite a multi-picture deal.
- Calle finds support in Leslie Grace, another DC actor affected by studio changes.
There were quite a few messy productions in the previous era of the DC Universe. Most of them never actually got to the big screen or, likely, beyond a concept or a script. However, Ths Flash was one of the messier projects that eventually made it to theaters. 2023 was not a kind year for Warner Bros. DC movies. They had four attempts to try and end the previous era of the DC Universe on a high note, and while Blue Beetle was pretty decent, it had nearly no connections to the era of DC that was ending. The other three movies had much more baggage, but none had more than The Flash.
The movie wasn't good, but no one expected it to be as bad as it was. Then there was the added hurdle of star Ezra Miller and their legal issues. It meant that the rest of the film's stars were doing all of the marketing, and one of those people was Sasha Calle. That meant suddenly being the person of the moment, answering all of the "Are you coming back for other DC projects" and "Do you know what happens next" questions. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Calle revealed that it soured an already complicated situation, explaining, "It was very hard, I have to say. I had bittersweet feelings as I was maneuvering everything. I was very excited, but there were a lot of unanswered questions for me, so it was very bittersweet. … So I just had to remind myself that I got to do this incredible movie and that I put my heart and soul into it, and that no matter where it was going to go, I did that. No one could take that away from me, and I had to own it."
Sasha Calle As Supergirl Deserved Better Than The Flash
Even though DC has the multiverse and could handwave nearly anything into existence that it wanted to, when James Gunn and Peter Safran decided to cast their Supergirl, they decided to go with someone new. When you sign on for roles like Supergirl, you're signing on for multiple pictures, and Calle described how she was, "I was so deeply in love with that role. I had a conversation about her future many times. When I signed onto that, it was for a multiple-picture deal. That's a common thing when you sign onto a franchise. So, it was very heartbreaking for me, and it was very confusing. Ultimately, I know that I did my best, and wherever it ended up going, it wasn't." However, while she is disappointed that she isn't going to get the chance to explore her version of Kara in future films, no one can take away the fact that she was Supergirl, full stop, period, end of sentence.
"It's been said that a queer Latina girl like me couldn't be Supergirl. But I was, and no one can take that away from me," Calle said. "That is the most important thing for me; I did something that mattered. And whether you saw yourself represented in me or not, a lot of people really connected with her and loved her. I walked into a store the other day, and this huge black man, who was the security guard, came up to me and whispered, "Hey." And I was like, "Yes?" And he was like, "You're a badass." And I was like, "What are you talking about?" And he was like, "You're Supergirl. You're a badass. We love you." So for that man to have connected with my performance, it was such a beautiful moment, and those little moments are everything to me."
Calle also explained that they leaned on someone else who got the chance to be a DC hero role taken away from them due to shenanigans after the announcements became more formal. Leslie Grace was supposed to be Barbara Gordon in a Batgirl film that was initially supposed to be the first of several to direct HBO Max DC films that Warner Bros. would be putting out. However, in the period that the film was announced and even shot, Warner Bros.'s leadership went through yet another change and one of the casualties of that change was Batgirl. The film, which was in post-production, was shelved along with Scoob! A Holiday Haunt for tax purposes. The decision caused an uproar, to say the least. Calle and Grace were friendly before, but Calle expressed that Grace got her through the entire situation.
"So I don't know what I would've done without Leslie, to be honest with you," Calle explained."I feel like she got it even worse, and yet, she was just this divine light of love and warmth. She was just so beautiful. Again, she's my family. I could call her whenever, and we'd just have each other's backs. And even though it came from a really confusing and painful situation, we got to have this beautiful friendship that is true and honest and sincere and kind. It's very selfless. We were there for each other, and I am really happy that we had each other then. So we're both very fortunate that we ended up connecting and becoming best friends."
It makes sense that Gunn and Safran would want to move forward with things they are already familiar with (see The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker) or something with very little baggage from the previous era of films (see Blue Beetle). Calle just happened to be in one of the DC films with a lot of baggage, and it brought down with it a very promising version of a character from an up-and-coming actress who was never really given her chance to shine. We could have had it all.