Tom Cavanagh is a national treasure. No, not just because he is the Tom in our beloved Mike and Tom Eat Snacks podcast, or because of his chilling performance as Dr. Harrison Wells on The CW’s The Flash. But rather because the Canadian actor is unafraid to speak his mind — which often happens to coincide with exactly what we were thinking, too. Recently, Cavanagh appeared on the Puck Soup podcast (conveniently located right here on Nerdist), where he talked at length about all things hockey with hosts Greg Wyshynski and Dave Lozo. However, Cavanagh also had quite a bit to say about his The Flash co-star Grant Gustin, and why he felt that Gustin had been overlooked for the part of Barry Allen in the growing DC Comics cinematic universe.

Here are some excerpts from the interview, which begins roughly 30 minutes into the podcast.

“It was either Variety or Vanity Fair that wrote an article that said [DC] needs to watch what they’re doing on TV, because the TV’s working and some of the other darker stuff isn’t working.”

“Here’s what I’ll say about him not being The Flash. The first thing is that for Zack Snyder to say ‘that’s not really the universe that we’re building,’ it’s excruciating for an actor. Because you’re like, ‘Uh, what about acting?’ He’s a clean-cut guy and winning, yes, because he’s acting that. He’s not Barry Allen. He’s Grant Gustin. He created that thing. If you want [your Flash] to have long hair and be a slacker, believe me, Grant can play that. He makes it look easy and makes everything think that’s what he is because he’s an incredibly skilled talent. That’s why he has that job. That’s why people like the show.”

“If Zack Snyder were to read him for [The Flash], he would be shocked. It’s crazy for a big-time Hollywood director to say ‘that’s not the universe.’ It’s a huge misstep on his part. If you’re a director, and you’re worth your oats, then you should be able to, given an actor with talent, mold him into what you want, and Grant could do that.”

Considering the recent shakeup at DC Films, which saw Geoff Johns and Jon Berg appointed to shepherd the superhero film slate, the “universe they’re building” may be in flux. However, Cavanagh also made an important point that a talented actor like Gustin shouldn’t necessarily want to limit himself by only playing one role. After all, The Flash movie, which currently has no director following Seth Grahame-Smith’s departure, is not set to hit theaters until March 16, 2018.

As for what Cavanagh told Gustin after the movie iteration of The Flash was announced? The actor divulged that on the podcast, too:

“The second thing is that the movies are tremendous. They’re building all of us up. The difficult thing for the movies is that we’ve had two years in the case of The Flash to win you over and tell a story. They have two hours. That’s not easy to do. So that’s why you see so many missteps. It’s very hard to get that right. And I said to Grant when this was announced: ‘Look, that’s years from now. Do you just want to just be The Flash? You have the ability to be in a Spielberg war movie next.’ And that will happen for him.”

“For his first big movie role to be The Flash, I don’t know if that’s the best thing for him. because you’re asking him to do the same thing he’s had years to do, to do the exact same thing in two hours, and it’s in different hands creatively. It’s tricky.”

You can listen to the complete Puck Soup podcast with Tom Cavanagh right here on Nerdist.com.

What do you think of Cavanagh’s comments? Do you think Grant Gustin deserves to be The Flash on the big screen or are you happy with Ezra Miller? Let us know in the comments below.

Images: The CW

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