• What happens when a movie haunts you, not because it was great, but because you wanted it to be? The Flash always had the bones of something powerful. Buried under quips, tonal whiplash, and unfinished ideas was a story about grief, regret, and learning when to let go. I saw that, and I couldn’t let it go either.

• This edit is the result of nearly two years of reworking, testing, failing, restarting, and pushing further. This is about finally letting this story say what it’s been trying to say all along.

• I cut the comedy because it made the trauma feel like a punchline. I reshaped the narrative so that Barry’s arc wasn’t just about saving his mom but about accepting loss without erasing who we become through it. 

• The bond between both versions of Barry had to evolve. Early drafts of this film leaned on B2’s humor to deflect from meaning. I wanted to pull the focus inward. B2 isn’t just comic relief; he’s the last echo of a life untouched by loss. Their connection became the heart of this, with B1 ultimately seeing what happens when we can’t let go of what hurt us.

• I ended up cutting the roommates scene entirely. It always felt like the movie was trying to break tension right when we were starting to lean into something grounded. I didn’t want Barry’s mission to be undercut by quirky roommates and sitcom energy.

• Dark Flash was reimagined entirely. Instead of a vague boogeyman, he became a tragic mirror, the cost of obsession, the ultimate version of Barry who couldn’t accept fate. With voiceovers, dialogue reconstruction, and added motifs, we made him the consequence of Barry’s denial, not just a final boss.

• I edited this movie because I believed in its core message, and Crossroads is the version where that belief finally pays off.

• This edit was a monster under the hood. Not because it was flashy, pun intended, but because the kind of emotional clarity we were chasing required a level of technical control that’s hard to get when you're working with pre-existing footage. It’s one thing to shift tone with music or pacing. It’s another thing entirely to rebuild a scene’s purpose using scraps, dubs, and digital illusion.

• One of the biggest decisions early on was stripping out as much original dialogue as possible, especially in moments where the script leaned too hard into comedy or undercut the stakes. Barry is still Barry, but he doesn’t need to be the class clown in every scene. Emotional weight lands better in quiet conviction than in sarcasm.

• ADR and voice work were massive here. AI tech helped a lot. Being able to reshape or redeliver lines in a way that fit the new tone opened doors, especially when it came to building out the Dark Flash mythology. We needed a voice that felt ancient, cracked by time and obsession. Thriller2Rayne had the brilliant idea to draw from Savitar, so we morphed Tobin Bell’s voice to echo that presence. There’s a ghostliness to it now.

• Working with others on this was its own adventure. Thriller2Rayne helped rework the core mythology, especially the closed loop idea of B2 becoming the very reason Barry goes back. It was clean, painful, and necessary.

• Echo27 rebuilt the entire bullet sequence from scratch using custom assets. NomadR, who I found through a YouTube rabbit hole, handled the big VFX shot of Flash’s new run. He stripped the original completely, gave me a blank canvas, and returned something that felt like a rebirth. Worth every frame.

• Music was a scalpel in this edit. Every cue had to cut clean, precise, and deep. Early in the film, “Midnight City” by M83 scored Barry’s first run. It wasn’t just an energetic opener; it was tonal groundwork.

• For the battle against the Kryptonians, “Run Boy Run” by Woodkid was an obvious but effective choice. The lyrics and tempo matched both Barrys’ determination and urgency, and it turned what could’ve been a generic fight scene into something with character. It became a declaration, their need to move, to act.

• The emotional core, though, was scored with two tracks from the *Slingshot* movie, “I’m Leaving” and “Wake Up.” These two cues bookended the heart of Barry’s relationship with his mom. “Wake Up,” the slower and more intimate of the two, scored the tender scenes with Nora. “I’m Leaving,” the more upbeat twin, underscored the moments of realization and farewell. Both worked in tandem to give the mother-son dynamic its own emotional language. Parts of the tracks were also used to score the court scene with Henry, making these two tracks the foundation of these three characters.

• Taking out the roommates' scene meant I had to invent a new path for our Barrys to get from the street to Wayne Manor. Originally, the ADR in that section was all about getting the Justice League together, but with the new direction, that didn’t fit. I rewrote the ADR so B1 tells B2 about his Bruce Wayne instead, and how he might be able to help. To bridge the gap visually, I used AI-generated B-roll of the city to cover the new dialogue. The scene now ends cleanly with “We need to go to Wayne Manor,” and we cut right to them arriving. It flows like it was always written that way, but it took stitching together new lines, ambient shots, and careful timing to get there.

• A lot of dialogue got cut, not because it was bad but because it told instead of showed. Barry’s growth in Crossroads had to be felt, not announced. He’s not a narrator; he’s a man trying to undo the undoable. That means holding longer on his eyes, removing exposition, and letting silence breathe. It also makes the audience lean in instead of lean back.

• This cut was a massive undertaking. And like most things worth doing, it took a village, a lot of late nights, and a timeline held together with duct tape.

Wake Up | Slingshot OST

The opening monologue and the court scene epilogue.

Midnight City | M83

The opening Flash run into Gotham City.

Don't Fear the Reaper (Extended Mix) | Blue Oyster Cult

The baby rescue sequence.

Songs to the Siren (Piano Cover) | Various Artists

Barry and Iris’s first meeting outside of work.

Here in Spirit | Jim James

Barry walking away from Iris after their conversation.

Arrival | Tron: Legacy OST

Bruce and Barry’s conversation about time travel.

Electric Love (Instrumental) | BØRNS

Barry and Iris’s apartment scene.

Roosevelt Station (alt ver. 1 and 2) | The Amazing Spider-Man OST

Barry explaining his dilemma to Iris, blending both versions.

Ceilings of Majesty | Avalon Zero

Barry’s run into the Speed Force.

Day Zero | Avalon Zero

The “don’t forget the tomatoes” and “please work” sequences.

Time to Pretend | MGMT

B2 gaining his powers.

The Call | Everest OST

Zod’s arrival and the Metropolis attack flashback.

Sabotage | Beastie Boys

The Wayne Manor kitchen fight scene.

Ocean | The Expanse OST

Bruce and Barry’s moment in the cave.

Faster Than Bullets | Flashpoint Paradox OST

The restored deleted bullet sequence.

Paranoid | Black Sabbath

Batman versus the Russians.

Flight | Man of Steel OST

Supergirl versus the Russians.

End of the World | Ivan Shpilevsky

Supergirl helping B1 regain his powers.

JL Animated Theme | DC Animated Universe

B2 suiting up alongside Supergirl, B1, and Batman.

Run Boy Run | Woodkid

The Flash, Supergirl, and Batman versus the Kryptonians final battle.

At the Speed of Force | Zack Snyder’s Justice League OST

The B1, Dark Flash, and B2 confrontation.

I'm Leaving | Slingshot OST

Barry and Nora’s goodbye scene.

Wake Up | Slingshot OST

The second movement of the track, linking the court scene to the opening.

Time (Epic Remix) | Pink Floyd

The reworked end credits with a remix of a classic.