Peter Safran, with James Gunn new head of DC Studios, had defended the decision of the upper floors to cancel Batgirl, judging it “unreleasable”, “not distributable” … for various reasons. Leslie Grace, who played the lead, is tired of this narrative.
Leslie Grace she was unlucky: co-star of the flop musical In the Heights, she was then ready to interpret Batgirl in the film of the same name, deleted surprise after the acquisition of the Warner Bros by the Discoveryresulting in the creation of new ones DC Studios. As we know, Batgirl was panned practically in post-production, already filmed, in a shock move that a couple of weeks ago Peter Safrannew head of DC Studios with James Gunn, he defended. Leslie Grace isn’t into it though, and she explained to Variety how you find some words unhappy…
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Leslie Gracemissed Batgirl in the canceled film of Adil El Arbi & Billal Fallah (also coauthors of Ms Marvel for Marvel Studios), was very candid with Variety, explaining that the feature film it could not be considered in fact closed. There were rumors that what parts of the film would be thought about expand or enhance to make it at the height of a theatrical releasealthough it was born as an original streaming for HBO Max. The decision taken, however, went in a completely different direction, also to take advantage of a tax deduction in a complex moment. This happened, moreover, before the new ones DC Studios of Safran and Gunn to leave, although it was Safran himself who defended Warner Bros. Film Group’s decision, confirming that the film was “unreleasable“, “not distributable”, for several reasons. Far from DC Studios’ new direction in content but, it read between the lines, neither presentable at Cinema. Leslie still doesn’t accept these subtexts.
They didn’t go into details creatively, they didn’t explain to me what they thought of the movie and how it would hurt DC. But I’m a human being, people perceive things, they read between the lines. AND words were spoken very lightly, when it comes to a job that people have put a lot of time into, I’m not just referring to me but to the entire crew. I realize it can be frustrating. (…)
I was able to see the film as far as it was: it was not complete when it was presented at test screenings (which apparently had a negative response, ed). There were scenes that weren’t even put in yet, they had just started editing and were panned for everything that was going on in the company. But the movie that I saw – the scenes that were there – they were incredible. There was definitely some potential for a good movie, IMHO. Maybe in the future we will see clips of it.
History preyed Michael Keaton again in the role of Batman (will still appear in The Flash, as just seen in the trailer) and in the role of the villain Firefly there would have been Brendan Fraser. Leslie had beautiful words just for Fraser, Oscar nominee 2023 for The Whale, and the actor in turn has never sportingly missed a circumstance to sing the praises of the Batgirl that perhaps no one will see. In the interview, however, Leslie confirms that contacts with the new DC Studios are still there, but she adds that she has no idea what could come of it.