As producers, writers and directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller are one hell of a team, taking ideas that seemed sort of ridiculous and delivering hugely entertaining and successful franchises…which is why it makes sense that every major studio wants to get in the Lord and Miller business. The duo are attached to develop The Flash solo movie for WB, as well as an animated Spider-Man film for Sony. That’s not news — what is news is Lord’s revelation that both projects will operate a bit independently from their larger franchises.

In a new interview on the Hippojuice podcast (via Slashfilm), Lord was asked for updates on both The Flash and Spider-Man. First up, Lord reveals that their version of The Flash is indeed Barry Allen, the same as Grant Gustin’s character on the CW television series — and Lord is aware of this:

We’re trying to break a story. It’s interesting, because there’s a really popular TV show out there, and we’re trying to carve out space for the movie that’s apart from that. I think we’re doing alright. … I believe [our Flash] is going to be Barry Allen. … It’s going to be its own [thing, apart from the TV show] — we’re more trying to stick with the cinematic universe… it really is its own thing, and kind of a stand-alone movie. We’re just trying to think of the best story. I think you guys will like it, it’s kind of a different take on superhero stuff.

The big screen version of The Flash will be played by Ezra Miller, and it was assumed that he would be more involved with WB’s Justice League universe, reportedly making his first (likely cameo) appearance in Batman vs. Superman. The Flash is a bit different from his fellow DC superheroes, and gives WB a chance to lend some real levity to their big DC franchise — which is why hiring Lord and Miller is a great idea.

As for the Spider-Man project over at Sony, Lord says this film is also something of a standalone project:

But it’s the same thing, is there a way to do one of these movies in a new way? That’s the exciting thing about it being animated, is it opens up a lot of different possibilities.

Chris and I like to carve out spaces where people will let us do what we want. So much of our careers are like ‘oh, no one will bother us while we try to make a 21 Jump Street movie, because it’s such a crazy idea, no one’s going to know what to do with it.’ So we’re doing these things kind of like that. They’re part of these huge franchises, but kind of are off a little bit to the side, and that gives us a lot of creative freedom, and that’s the thing we love. Hopefully we won’t waste that!

We already assumed that this animated Spider-Man project would stand independently from Sony and Marvel’s live-action reboot of the character, so that’s not exactly a huge revelation. It still remains to be seen if Lord and Miller will sign on to direct either project in addition to writing the screenplays, but it’s not as if the pair have a shortage of directing opportunities right now.

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