Leslie Grace believes in a potential sequel for the Batgirl film we’ll never see
Leslie Grace thinks "incredible" Batgirl rough cut had potential to be a good film—and even launch sequels
Aux News Batgirl
Will we ever stop talking about Batgirl? It’s been months now since the DC film was shockingly shelved, and the film has become an infamous subject of debate and confusion. The suits have stood by their decision to take the tax write-off, leading fans to think the movie was Just That Bad. Those on the creative side would understandably beg to differ. “I’m not going to lie to you. In every film, there are obstacles, and our film was nothing short of that,” star Leslie Grace told Variety. “But the film that I got to see—the scenes that were there—was incredible.”
The version Grace saw was from “the beginning of the editing process” and completely unfinished, but “There was definitely potential for a good film, in my opinion,” she says. In fact, she and directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah “still are” in discussions about a potential sequel to that story. “We were so excited about all the ideas that we had, because you can see long-term potential in the story that we were beginning to build.”
“We’ve definitely had conversations about Batgirl’s future and how Batgirl can make a resurgence. I think fans are looking forward to seeing that,” Grace adds when asked about possibly joining Matt Reeves’ version of the Batfamily. “We’ll just see where that takes us; I can’t say one way or the other if that is a reality at this point. I can’t speak too much about a future for Batgirl or guarantee anything. The last thing that I would want to do is give folks any kind of inkling of something that I have not much control over—as we’ve learned.”
Grace’s co-star Brendan Fraser, for one, would like to see her return as the character, particularly for “a whole generation of little girls are going to have to wait longer to see a Batgirl and say, ‘Hey, she looks like me.’” He describes the discovery that the company wasn’t going to invest more in making the film a theatrical release as a “gut punch,” recalling, “[Then] we learned that it was in the interest of writing down some debt? That part really stung.”
New DC boss Peter Safran, whose hiring came after the Batgirl fiasco, nevertheless defended the decision, saying the movie was “unreleasable” and in fact claims it would have hurt the DC brand and “those people involved.” The DC brass who talked Grace down didn’t phrase it as such: “They weren’t really specific on anything creative in terms of what they felt about the film and how it would’ve hurt DC creatively,” she shares. (She herself hasn’t heard from Safran or his DC Studios co-head James Gunn. Maybe she should try tweeting him?)
She’s diplomatic about Safran’s take, “But I’m a human being, and people have perceptions and people read things,” she says. “And when words are expressed very lightly about work that people really dedicated a lot of time to—not just myself but the whole crew—I can understand how it could be frustrating.”
26 Comments
Well, rebellions are built on hope; maybe sequels can be too.
How has someone not gone rogue and just released the movie?
Maybe it’s because WB owns the footage and nobody has the wherewithall to release it?
Jesus, you’re just as fucking stupid when you’re not being a cunty troll.
Just to be clear, would the sequel also go unreleased? If that is the case, my enthusiasm for the project goes way down.
No, Zaslav’s tax scam only worked bc it was $90M that the previous leadership at WB had already spent. If he ok-ed another $90M and turned around and wrote it off, it wouldn’t be as valid.
Also, it would constitute tax fraud, I’m pretty sure.
The original will not be released, but the sequel will. Then after all the confusion WB will HAVE to release the original. This is 100D chess.
With a twist: it will be the Snyder cut of Batgirl and have a running length of eleven hours.
“There was definitely potential for a good film.”hmmm….
She forgot to add in “if we all got naked a lot”
A sequel to a film that doesn’t exist? We’ve reached the point where Leonard Part 6 is no longer parody.
“We’ve definitely had conversations about Batgirl’s future and how Batgirl can make a resurgence. I think fans are looking forward to seeing that,” Grace adds when asked about possibly joining Matt Reeves’ version of the Batfamily. “We’ll just see where that takes us; I can’t say one way or the other if that is a reality at this point. I can’t speak too much about a future for Batgirl or guarantee anything. The last thing that I would want to do is give folks any kind of inkling of something that I have not much control over—as we’ve learned.””
Wow, completely and utterly delusional.If she hasn’t spoken to Gunn or Safran, who is the “we” she’s talking about who she’s had conversations with about Batgirl’s future? The fired writers-directors? The fired actors? Who?!?
Will we ever stop talking about Batgirl?That’s entirely up to you.
Lukewarm take: I bet it was a thoroughly average movie that would’ve been forgotten about if the execs hadn’t Streisand Effect-ed it so badly.
She’s already gotten more career mileage out of this than Marlon Wayans or Chris Rock ever did. I hope she eventually comes to make her peace with they way the chips can fall as well as they have.
I was just listening to Blank Check’s Knock at the Cabin podcast, and (in the context of Rupert Grint vs Emily Watson’s careers) they brought up how Disney’s live-action remakes have made a lot of money, but none of their stars appear to have gotten a career boost (except Lily James).
wayans never filmed the movie and still probably made more money off residuals than she ever will.rock, to my knowledge, only played robin in an snl sketch.also, like, the internet barely existed when batman forever came out. if you don’t think either or them would have made a publicity meal out of being fired at the time you’re talking crazy.
Your 1st 2 sentences support my point – you even use the same sarcastic dynamic that I did.But, no to your last point. I said “career mileage”, so based in the trades, agencies, and casting offices – still fairly unchanged from such “early internet” eras of so long ago.
The Day the Batgirl Cried
I don’t understand how the directors aren’t launching a lawsuit. They’ve basically been thrown under the bus with the studio’s rhetoric about the film being unreleasable and being very bad. How is that not damaging to their career? Is it because they’ve been promised another project?
“I don’t understand how the directors aren’t launching a lawsuit.’
What are they going to sue WB for? They did a job and were paid for it. Unless there was some strange clause in their contract that guaranteed a release (spoiler alert: this is not a thing), what could they possibly sue over?
“How is that not damaging to their career?”
What does that have to do with anything? They were hired to do a job and they did the job. It’s not up to them whether the movie gets released.
“Is it because they’ve been promised another project?”
No, it’s because they were hired to do a job and did the job. They were paid for the job they did.
What POSSIBLE reason could they have to sue?
I think any kind of lawsuit they might file would have to prove harm, and there’s really no evidence of that. They’ve already signed on to Bad Boys 4, and even if there’s no Ms. Marvel follow up after the movie, I think they’d be more than welcome back at the MCU. It would be difficult to prove that DC’s bullshit has demonstrably harmed their career, at least right now. It’s possible that most studios and execs recognize that it’s just PR to justify their tax scheme, and aren’t going to hold that against Adil and Bilall.
It’s not as damaging to their careers as suing a major studio would be. It’d be expensive, drawn out and put other studios off working with them. And chances are their contracts didn’t give them many rights anyway.Better to play nice, while they go off and do Bad Boys 4.
They were hired to do a job, did the job and were paid for it.
Explain where a lawsuit comes into play.
“Irrelevant actress makes unsupported yet unfalsifiable claim that unreleased project ‘was good, actually,’ remains salty”
What is it so hard to believe a movie a company that makes money releasing movies and sunk $90M into didn’t even release was actually bad?
She called it incredible then immediately backed off and said there was potential for a good film.