Batgirl lead actress Leslie Grace stands by the quality of her film in spite of the studio’s cancellation, and she is not alone.
Several months after principal photography had completed in Scotland, Grace had received a gift from costar Brendan Fraser, who was to debut as Firefly in the film. It was a necklace with a pair of dice. “The card said a lot of really sweet things, but he basically said, ‘I give you this necklace because in this business you gotta have a little luck. So ring your bell and never [stop.’ It] was just like ‘whoa. And after all this, it has so much meaning.”
After the merger of WarnersMedia and Discovery, CEO David Szaslav immediately went through the current upcoming DC releases and made extensive cancellations to bring the studio out of debt. Sadly, Batgirl was the first to fall the guillotine in August after much of the film had been shot and after test screenings failed to impress the executives. At the time of cancellation, $90 million had been spent on production, and millions more were required. Other existing projects cancelled include Titans, Pennyworth, Doom Patrol, and a third Wonder Woman film with Patty Jenkins.
Grace, 28, is the first Dominican actress to be cast as Barbara Gordon, and the film had additional star power thrown in with the casting of J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon and Michael Keaton as Batman. This was to be Keaton’s second modern-day appearance as his iconic 1989 version after Andy Muschietti’s The Flash. Fraser’s as Garfield Lyns, aka, Firefly, a pyromaniac criminal.
Batgirl Stars Speak Out On Film, Highlighting Optimism and Gratitude
Fraser, whose star power has risen in light of his highly-acclaimed film The Whale, went on record to describe his reaction to news of cancellation. “I thought I was getting punked, but it checked [out. Then] came hysterical laughter like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me?’ I know that the filmmakers and producers were expecting to hear from the studio about the film, and the anticipation was, ‘How do we broaden the movie out to take it from a streaming format to a theatrical release?’ But as we all know, it was the complete opposite. When we were expecting XYZ amount of support and money to expand scenes — to do pickup shots and those kinds of things — that was a gut punch. But then we learned that it was in the interest of writing down some debt? That part really stung.” He had also starred as Robotman on Doom Patrol and currently stars alongside Smallville alum Tom Welling on The CW’s The Professionals.
Fraser is nothing short of complimentary of Grace’s performance as Batgirl and how much it would have meant to the younger demographics that would have seen the finished product. “What I find most lamentable is that now a whole generation of little girls are going to have to wait longer to see a Batgirl and say, ‘Hey, she looks like [me.’ That] makes me sad. I know how good she was. And I know what this would mean to so many people. [Leslie] has a work ethic that is unrivaled. She’s dynamite — and dynamite comes in small packages but still goes bang. We do battle each other several times. There was a lot of kicking and punching and getting hurt but we were always help each other to our feet after breaking set pieces and knocking the tar out of each other.”
Grace, herself, meanwhile, expresses gratitude for the opportunity in spite of her disappointment that the project had been shelved. ” I tend to be a very optimistic and positive person in these types of circumstances, and I just really leaned on the beauty of the idea that I got to have this experience in my life. Even though I would’ve loved to share that with the rest of the world, nothing can take that experience away from us.”
As to the studio’s verdict after the test screening, Leslie explained how very vague her meetings with Warner execs had been on their decision. However, she contradicts their point of view based on the version she had seen. “I got to see the film as far as it got to; the film wasn’t complete by the time that it was tested. There were a bunch of scenes that weren’t even in there. They were at the beginning of the editing process, and they were cut off because of everything going on at the company. But the film that I got to see — the scenes that were there — was incredible. There was definitely potential for a good film, in my opinion. Maybe we’ll get to see clips of it later on.”
Although she and crew are still optimistic about the film being completed and a sequel, recently-appointed DC Studio co-chairmen James Gunn and Peter Safran have not reached out to her at this time. Regardless, there have been previous discussions as to where her version of Batgirl could fit in.
More, hopefully, as it develops.
Official source – Batgirl’s Leslie Grace Rejects DC’s Claim Film Was ‘Unreleasable’ – Variety
