An official statement was made by actress and singer Leslie Grace on the surprising cancellation of the movie Batgirl in which she would have starred as Barbara Gordon.
Batgirl had been one of Warner Bros’s most highly anticipated DC films. The movie would have been directed by Ms. Marvel’s Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. It would follow Barbara Gordon’s original story of becoming the titular Gotham City vigilante.
I feel blessed to have worked among absolute greats: Leslie Grace
On social media, Leslie Grace shared about the sudden cancellation, mentioning her pride in the movie and all of those involved in making it.
“Querida familia! On the heels of the recent news about our movie “Batgirl,” I am proud of the love, hard work and intention all of our incredible cast and tireless crew put into this film over 7 months in Scotland,” Grace wrote on Instagram.
“I feel blessed to have worked among absolute greats and forged relationships for a lifetime in the process! To every Batgirl fan – THANK YOU for the love and belief, allowing me to take on the cape and become, as Babs said best, “my own damn hero!” #Batgirl for life!” the actress added.
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After the actress’s successful performance in In the Heights, whose fame catapulted addressed the disappointing news on Instagram, where she shared several behind-the-scenes looks at the film.
On 31st March Batgirl completed its principal photography and was in post-production, which was supposed to be in view on a HBO Max releasing in 2022. The Batgirl movie would not only be noticeable as the biggest acting role for Grace till date, yet it is also a exception superhero film by a Latina actor.
Warner Bros made the shocking decision on the 2nd of August, Thursday to drop the release the Batgirl in movie theaters as well as on its HBO Max streaming partnership. Insiders told New York Post that the $90 million dollar budget movie was “shelved” in part due to poor quality, aside from abysmal test screenings that pushed WB to take the decision to never release the movie as it coud potentially harm the brand image of DC Comics.
Sources claimed to Variety that “the studio intended to fulfill a desire for its slate of DC movies to be at a blockbuster scale, which Batgirl was not, as it was originally conceived specifically for HBO Max.”
The film directors, upon hearing the news, were “saddened and shocked” as quoted by The Guardian, “as directors, it is critical that our work be shown to audiences, and while the film was far from finished, we wish that fans all over the world would have had the opportunity to see and embrace the final film themselves. Maybe one day they will Insha’Allah.”
Aside from Grace, the cast of Batgirl featured Michael Keaton returning as Bruce Wayne/Batman, J.K. Simmons reprising his role as Commissioner Jim Gordon from Justice League. The filming was mostly done in Scotland between November 2021 and March 2022.
