Even though James Gunn's DC has already announced a new slate of superhero films and television series, the Batgirl cast has continued to hype up how fantastic they believe their cancelled film would have been had it been released. Despite recent remarks from Gunn's DC Studios co-chairman Peter Safran, both Brendan Fraser, who played the villain Firefly, and Batgirl herself, Leslie Grace, spoke candidly about the superhero film over the past week.
Despite rumours that filming had almost ended and the project was almost finished, DC and Warner Bros. cancelled Batgirl in August. On the same day as DC Studios' massive news bombardment, DC released its most recent official-looking statement regarding Batgirl and the reasons behind its cancellation. Safran deemed the film "unreleasable" and claimed that releasing it would have damaged the DC brand.
Brendan Fraser made an appearance on the Howard Stern show last Tuesday to promote his Oscar-nominated performance in The Whale during award season. He also briefly discussed his role as Firefly in Batgirl.
It was about a man who had served in the military but had seen his benefits reduced. Outraged at the system, what else was he going to do but set the building on fire? stated Fraser. That is all there is to know. Absolute supervillain there. You can feel some pity for him, recognise his humanity, and add the fact that he's the bad guy to the mix. But is he really, you know? Like the best villains, you can't help but like him just a little.
Fraser sounded at least a little bummed that his nasty role wouldn't be seen in cinemas or on HBO Max, although not being overly upset by the likelihood that the movie will never be aired.
In the meantime, Leslie Grace discussed the film in an interview with Variety that was published on Monday. Grace mentioned that the movie had its share of problems, but she thought it had potential based on what she had seen thus far.
Grace explained, "I got to watch the film as far as it got to; the film wasn't complete by the time that it was tested," and "I got to see the film as far as it went to." "There were several different sequences that weren't even included in there. They had just started editing when they were interrupted due to everything that was going on within the company. The editing process had to start over from the beginning. However, the film that I had the opportunity to watch and the sequences that were included in it were breathtaking. In my opinion, there was a lot of untapped potentials there for a fantastic movie. Perhaps we'll be able to view some excerpts of it at a later time."
It is only normal that the cast should be proud of the work that they made, especially if it is never going to be seen; yet, it does appear like the key actors in Batgirl are putting in a bit more effort than usual. And since that Warner Bros. has already established a very weird precedent by releasing Zack Snyder's Justice League after five years of complaints from fans and actors, it does not appear to be completely inconceivable that Batgirl will finally be made available online. However, now that Gunn and Safran are in charge of DC Studios, there are no plans for this particular incarnation of Batgirl to make a comeback shortly.