Calgary Expo 2018 was treated to a glorious surprise from The Flash star Tom Cavanagh before his panel began as the audience was able to catch a screening of a 20+ minute short film titled Tom and Grant, that he wrote, directed and starred in alongside his co-star Grant Gustin (who fans will know as THE FLASH himself).
When I showed up and was told that there would be no photos of Tom Cavanagh during his panel, I was quite annoyed since that’s what I came to do as part of the press, however… What I didn’t know was that Tom Cavanagh was about to show everybody a short film he had made before his panel even began (and of course we couldn’t take pics or record it — THAT’S CON LAW). Before showing the movie, we were warned about bad language and adult content, which was initially troublesome since this was the first year I brought my two kids (7 and 8) to the Calgary Expo and I was not about to miss out on this unexpected treat… I probably should have taken them out of the Corral stadium. Whoops.
Tom and Grant stars Cavanagh and Grant Gustin as two bumbling bank robbers on a stakeout where the two argue over whether or not JIZZ HANDS is the correct terminology over JAZZ HANDS amongst other hilarious chunks of dialog. Seeing Grant Gustin aka Barry Allen aka The Flash – say JIZZ HANDS after he’s done singing a tune in the car might be one of the funniest things I’ve seen all year in any entertainment medium. Their onscreen chemistry is dynamic and I would love to see Cavanagh direct a full length feature about these two one day down the road. I truly think it would be a huge hit if these two decided to make a full length indie based on this short film.
Although most of the movie is them hanging out in the car and chatting, there are some explosive and shocking bursts of violence sprinkled in for fun, including a thrilling conclusion that puts a perfect stamp on this hysterical short film that everybody should be seeing, whether you’re a fan of The Flash or not. Cavanagh has directed episodes of the CW series before, but let’s face it — none of those shows had JIZZ HANDS as one of the lines, nor do any feature Barry Allen dropping F-Bombs, which he most certainly does and that in itself is more than enough reason to check this one out.
After the movie concluded, panel moderator and Star Trek star Garret Wang asked Cavanagh about the inspiration for the movie, which was filmed just as the third season of The Flash was wrapping up. He mentioned that a lot of the drive behind it was to show people how versatile an actor Gustin is and that he doesn’t have to play the kind of character that he does on The Flash. He can be gritty too and I totally agree after watching the movie – Gustin needs to be in more movies like this – he killed it.
Cavanagh, who is Canadian himself, managed to cram in some great Q&A after the movie concluded along with several jabs at the Calgary crowd and how their hockey team The Flames had been eliminated from the playoffs. “Why are there only paper plates in Calgary?” he asked, “Because Montreal has ALL THE CUPS!” Cavanagh had a blast and even though he was roasting Calgary’s hockey team, the crowd ate it up because the dude was just so damn charming and funny. The usual con-questions arose, including which Wells was his favourite to play so far since he has so many alternate world versions of himself and of course the number one answer was Reverse Flash Wells. Why wouldn’t it be? That’s the only reason he joined the show in the first place, because he was offered up the part of the famous villain in season one. Otherwise he had no initial interest in just playing a scientist. He did go on to tease that he believes one day, one of his alternate world versions of Wells would probably result in the cancellation of the series once people realise he’s gone too far. Bonus fun fact: Cavanagh was amazing with the people on the show floor during autographs. He would walk out and visit with everybody – when several celebs wouldn’t dare leave the protection of their tables or venture far from their money-making hubs (cough, cough Jason Momoa….).