Grant Gustin
Catching up with the guy who’s stepped into the running shoes of the Flash
Grant Gustin was introduced to genre fans when he debuted as Central City police scientist Barry Allen on TV’s Arrow last year. But his star should rise as fast as a certain Scarlet Speedster runs when he headlines Warner Brothers’ spinoff show The Flash this autumn. Cast in the title character’s original Silver Age mould of a lean track star – as opposed to the fondly remembered but weirdly muscle- bound incarnation of the 1990 television series – Gustin possesses a winning smile and humour that distinguishes his character from the tortured live- action DC Universe heroes of recent years, harking back to a time when such champions were unafraid to work in the sunlight. When SFX catches up with the thoughtful, articulate actor in Los Angeles, we’re startled to learn Gustin’s only 24 years old. But we’re content with the knowledge that his youth will only help give The Flash an appropriately long run.
The Flash explores more of the positive side of being a superhero than we’re used to seeing on TV. Yeah, it is lighter, but it doesn’t feel campy at all. This is kind of like Thor and Iron Man. The humour is there. It’s grounded in reality enough that as an actor you can ground yourself. There are a lot of great relationships in this world that’s not reality but not supernatural.
Were you a superhero fan prior to getting this role? I was a big fan of the Christopher Reeve Superman movies. I’ve got a Superman tattoo on my arm. I didn’t read comics growing up, just because I was busy with theatre. But I started reading everything I could when I got the part. There’s kind of too much out there to read, as far as the Flash goes. Because I don’t know all of the mythology. Sometimes when [ producer] Andrew [ Kreisberg] is talking to me I’m like, “I’ve lost you, dude” [ laughs].
Did any comic stories prove especially useful to you? The whole New 52 series is what I’m reading. I love the way it looks. It’s the closest to the origin story that we’re doing, and [ producer] Geoff Johns helped launch it. It’s kind of the world that our show is in.
Where are you right now in the production? I just read the third episode. Robbie Amell’s Firestorm is coming up in this next episode. Emily [ Bett Rikards from Arrow] will appear in episode four. From what I understand we’re gonna go on a date. But a date as in we both have a lot going on in each of our lives. I don’t know where it’s going. I think we’re mostly gonna be there as friends to help each other. But there’s a lot of time for romance, so we’ll see.
Would you prefer Iris, Barry’s love interest, to learn his secret? I kind of want her to know sooner rather than later. Barry just really wants to tell her, and it’s killing him in the second episode. Because she’s always been pretty much his only friend. He’s got his STAR Labs family now, but they only know him as this guy who has these powers. Nobody knows him like Joe and Iris know him. He really wants to tell Iris because she could understand on a level that nobody else could.
Should she remain his best friend for the time being, rather than become his girlfriend? I don’t know. It’s bubbling over. It’s been building for years for Barry. Eventually he’s just gonna tell her how he feels, I would imagine. Because this is a big change, and when big changes happen people tend to be more honest than usual. So I think she’ll find out sooner rather than later. It would be kind of cool for it to become romantic. But it won’t work out, because he’s a superhero and that’s how it
goes [ laughs]. Next to Batman, the Flash has the best rogues’ gallery in the DC Universe... Yeah, and we could potentially have some of Batman’s rogues’ gallery, like Arrow’s had. There’s endless possibilities for the villains. In the third episode, we’ve already got a villain who’s iconic.
The most satisfying element of the show’s pilot is that the Flash, despite his powers, uses his wits to defeat the villain. That’s the only reason that he’s as useful as he is, because he’s so smart. Just being fast doesn’t really do much for you. You gotta have some wit, which Barry has plenty of. Even in these next few episodes, he really doesn’t know how to use his powers and he’s gotta make up for it by using his brain to get himself out of some sticky situations.