Kevin Smith did not hold back about his thoughts on the Batgirl cancelation. The filmmaker, actor, and comic book writer called out Warner Bros. Discovery for pulling the movie while it was in post-production.
"It’s an incredibly bad look to cancel the Latina Batgirl movie," Smith said on his Hollywood Babble-On YouTube show, referencing the fact Leslie Grace, a Latina actor, was due to lead the movie as Barbara Gordon.
"I don’t give a shit if the movie was absolute fucking dogshit – I guarantee you that it wasn’t. The two directors [Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi] who directed that movie did a couple of episodes of Ms. Marvel, and it was a wonderful fucking show and they had more money to do Batgirl than they had to do an episode of Ms. Marvel and stuff."
Batgirl had already finished filming on a $90million shoot when Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed it would not be releasing it on HBO Max or in theaters. The movie was scrapped along with the animated movie Scoob: Holiday Haunt in what was believed to be a cost-cutting move. However, CEO David Zaslav said it was because the movie was "not ready" for release.
Batgirl’s lead Grace issued a statement over the cancellation, expressing how she was "proud of the love, hard work and intention all of our incredible cast and tireless crew put into this film". She also shared a series of behind-the-scenes snaps from the movie's shoot on Instagram.
In one, she’s seen getting into costume as Gordon while singing Whitney Houston, while another features her looking battered and bruised in stage make-up as Batgirl. You can see these in the post above.
Director Adil El Arbi also recently shared an exclusive image of the scrapped film. In the shot shared on social media, Grace’s Batgirl and Michael Keaton’s Batman are pictured in full costume on the gloomy-looking streets of Gotham.
While Batgirl has been canceled, there are plenty of other confirmed new superhero movies on the way.
Ben Affleck reflects on the "excruciating experience" playing Batman in the Zack Snyder movies: "A lot of it was misalignment of agendas, understandings, expectations"
James Gunn reacts to Jason Momoa almost spoiling his Lobo costume in an interview: "I just want to profoundly thank Jason’s publicist"
