Almost two months after Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed the DC film would be indefinitely shelved, lead star Leslie Grace shared a TikTok video of behind-the-scenes footage from filming. Grace plays Barbara Gordon in the film, which was expected to premiere on streamer HBO Max in early 2023. Michael Keaton, Brendan Fraser, and J.K. Simmons rounded out the cast. Grace shared scenes of herself in the makeup chair, practicing fight choreography, and co-star Fraser doing push-ups as character Firefly. The video is set to Grace’s original song titled “Batgirls Get Lonely Too.” “Wrote this song during the pandemic…b4 I even knew ANY of this would be my life,” Grace captioned. “Batgirl” filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah previously stated Warner Bros. Discovery has blocked their access to the production servers so they cannot finish “Batgirl.”
“We have nothing,” Fallah said. “Adil called me and said, ‘Shoot everything on your phone.’ I went on the server, and everything was blocked.” El Arbi recalled, “We were like, ‘Fucking shit! All the scenes with Batman in them! Shit!’” At the time of the “Batgirl” cancellation, the “Ms. Marvel” and “Bad Boys for Life” filmmakers were in the post-production phase of the feature, with VFX effects still needed. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav opted to shelve the film for a tax write-off. “The guys from Warners told us it was not a talent problem from our part or the actress, or even the quality of the movie,” El Arbi said during an interview with SKRIPT. “They told us it was a strategic change. There was new management, and they wanted to save some money.” Lead star Grace shared a tribute to the film on social media after the news, writing, “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. 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!” Grace was set to be the first Latina DC superhero onscreen, with the film also marking the first transgender actress in the DC universe with Ivory Aquino starring.
♬ Batgirls get lonely too – Leslie Grace Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.