Actor Ezra Miller has been arrested for the second time in less than a month. Per CNN, the 29-year-old star was booked for second-degree assault after allegedly throwing a chair at a woman who asked them to leave a private residence. The incident took place in Pāhoa, a small enclave of Hawaii’s Big Island.
Miller’s previous arrest occurred in a nearby part of Hawaii on March 28. That disturbance took place at a bar, where Miller was charged for “disorderly conduct and harassment” after grabbing a mic from one patron attempting to sing karaoke and lunging at another who was playing darts. Per a Hawaii Police Department press release, Miller paid $500 in bail and was released.
Miller, who identifies as non-binary, rose to prominence through key roles in We Need to Talk About Kevin and The Perks of Being a Wallflower, but their big break occurred when they joined Warner Bros. DC Comics franchise as The Flash. They’re also a lead in the studio’s Fantastic Beasts, playing Albus Dumbledore’s nephew–the powerful young wizard Credence Barebone. The third film in the Harry Potter spinoff series was released on April 15, but due to controversies around Miller, J.K. Rowling, and former series antagonist Johnny Depp, as well as middling critical and commercial response, the future of the franchise is in serious jeopardy.
Miller has a history of concerning behavior. In April 2020, they were filmed in an Iceland bar appearing to choke a woman and throw her to the ground. Earlier in 2022, Miller also received widespread attention for a video they posted on social media, seeming to threaten members of the North Carolina Ku Klux Klan. In the video, they specifically mention the “Beulaville chapter,” a reference to a town in southeastern North Carolina that media outlets have been unable to prove actually has an active branch of the KKK.
The mounting controversies around Miller led Warner Bros. and DC to have “an emergency impromptu meeting” about Miller’s future as part of their superhero franchise, according to a report from Rolling Stone. Miller’s upcoming Flash solo film—directed by Andy Muschietti and slated for a June 2023 release—is a big deal for Warner and DC because of the crossover opportunities The Flash’s multiverse-hopping narratives afford. The plot sees Miller’s Barry Allen traveling back in time to try to prevent his mother’s murder, the chaos of which creates a scenario that allows multiple past Batmen like Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck to both appear in the film. It could even be used as a device to align all of Warner’s disparate DC films into one coherent timeline. Suffice to say, the stakes are high.
The Rolling Stone piece noted that, while Miller did not have any “yelling or violent outbursts” while shooting The Flash, they were difficult on set. In March, Variety reported that the movie’s release date was pushed from 2022 to 2023, with COVID-related production delays being cited as the primary cause.