Andy Muschietti got a "confidence boost" after Tom Cruise praised 'The Flash'.
The 'Top Gun' star is said to have contacted the director to express how much he enjoyed the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) film and Muschietti values his praise – as well as that of the horror author Stephen King – highly.
Questioned on whether the good feedback added pressure, the filmmaker told GamesRadar+: "No. If anything, (we got) more confidence in the thing we did, because the movie was finished by the time (Cruise and King) saw it, so it was a confidence boost if anything."
Andy's sister Barbara Muschietti – who serves as a producer on 'The Flash' - felt the same way about the Hollywood icon's love for the picture.
She said: "It's a very cynical industry, and to hear people that really have no skin in the game, because they have nothing to gain, just say something that lovely – in the case of Tom Cruise, he called us, talked for 15 minutes, praising Andy, praising the film, and it just feels very good because we work really hard to make these movies."
'The Flash' sees Michael Keaton play the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman for the first time in over 30 years and Andy held discussions with the actor as to how they could explain what had happened to the character in the intervening period.
The 'It' director said: "It's always a thrill to speculate or imagine that that Batman will come back, but also the thing that was very exciting to me was basically filling the space of those 30 years where we haven't seen what Bruce is up to.
"And that was part of my conversations with Michael Keaton, and it was great because we had a lot of fun creating that timeline where we don't know what he did."
