After a shaky time in the spotlight, Ezra Miller isn’t ready to sprint back to Hollywood.

“The Flash” star, whose Hollywood ascent was derailed amid mounting legal issues, addressed their past controversies and future in the entertainment industry in an interview with Lo Speciale Giornale published June 19. Miller, 32, spoke to the Italian outlet shortly after attending the Cannes Film Festival in May for their first major red-carpet appearance since falling from grace.

Miller said they appeared at the renowned film festival at the request of their friend, “Die My Love” director Lynne Ramsay, adding that their relationship with the movie industry is on “tentative grounds.”

“If you’ve been in the woods for three years, I do not recommend going straight to Cannes, where every photographer and every weirdo, every rich genocidal freak (will) be there, you know what I mean?” Miller said. “It’s not an easy reentry.”

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Miller broke out on the big screen in 2012 with a role in the coming-of-age drama “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” later playing Credence Barebone in the Harry Potter “Fantastic Beasts” franchise (2016-2022) and superhero speedster Barry Allen in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” (2016) and “Justice League” (2017).

But in 2022, a series of highly publicized scandals cast a shadow on Miller’s rising star. The actor was arrested in Hawaii on a charge of disorderly conduct in March, followed by an arrest on suspicion of assault in April. A few months later, Miller was accused of grooming an 18-year-old activist by the teen’s parents and also charged with felony burglary in a separate incident in Vermont (Miller pleaded not guilty).

“Not that I don’t hold a lot of remorse and lamentation for a lot of things that I did and for a lot of things that happened in that time, but I’m really, really grateful for the lessons that came with that abyss,” Miller reflected.

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In an August 2022 statement to USA TODAY, Miller said they were undergoing treatment for “complex mental health issues” following the string of criminal and abuse allegations brought against them: “I want to apologize to everyone that I have alarmed and upset with my past behavior. I am committed to doing the necessary work to get back to a healthy, safe and productive stage in my life.”

“When we go through those crucibles, if we can survive, which was up in the air for me if I’m being real, we then have that capacity to see other people in their crucibles and just to reach towards them,” Miller told Lo Speciale Giornale. “That grows more and more rarefied in our world, too. Like, the capacity to do that, the desire to do that, the willingness to do that.”

“The Flash” premiered in June 2023 and despite earning mixed reviews from critics, the DC superhero flick grossed $271.4 million worldwide. While Miller hasn’t appeared in a major project since the film’s release, the actor said they’ve been “writing a lot,” including working with Ramsay on a movie that will “likely” be their first new release.

Contributing: Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY