The Ezra Miller situation is revealing. This guy checks off every box that a studio wants in a new leading star except what ges the job done.
He's a young upcoming actor. His androgyous style is trendy & memorable. His pronoun game is on-point.
The only missing parts are screen charisma, likability, and box office draw.
I know, I'm not respecting EM's pronoun choices.
That's not meant to be a broader statement on the concept. I'm just lazy and I don't respect EM in general.
People need to earn respect and most of these gender-jockeys haven't done so. For my trans friends, I'll use their preferred pronouns. That's it.
My issue with Miller has nothing to do with their gender identity, and has everything to do with just how grating their portrayal of Barry Allen was, which reminded me quite a bit of their portrayal of Trashcan Man. Obviously, the performances were different, but there's a kind of frenetic quality to their acting style that didn't fit either character.
Trashcan Man is meant to be insane, sure, and mentally damaged by decades of abuse, but there's more to the character than doing a Bobcat Goldthwaite impression.
Barry Allen -- especially younger Barry in this film -- had a similar quality to him, which makes me wonder if it's just Miller's own personality bleeding thru. I haven't followed their controversies especially closely other than news headlines that pop up, but I definitely saw a lot more overlap in the characters than I'd have wanted. Personally, I wasn't a fan of Allen's character in the JLA movie, either -- the weird, geeky, awkward guy who, in the vastly inferior Wheedon version, falls on top of Wonder Woman and who, in the Snyder version, is still just an awkward weirdo.
This film steered even more into the "awkward weirdo" angle, and I found it pretty off-putting.
I have no idea how or why Miller was cast. My assumption is that the original conception for the character was "Find us an awkward weirdo who can also do some emoting," and Miller gave a good audition. I mean, if that's what you want, Miller is a great choice (if not for the attendant controversies). It's just...not remotely what I think Barry Allen ought to be. Like...at all.
I could see being slightly awkward as a result of being single-minded about exonerating his dad, but not to this degree. This was more like "Had underlying personality issues/possible disorders entirely separate from his mother's untimely death and the impact it had on his life."
I doubt the studios paid any attention to Miller being non-binary. I don't think it was a factor. I think they saw an actor whose star was on the rise coming off of the Harry Potter prequels, who they could get for the right price, and who fit the bill for their "We want an awkward nerdy type, but someone who can also emote from time to time" casting call or whatever.