Summary
Batgirldirectors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah have come forward to express their feelings about their film being canceled in hindsight after seeingThe Flash,which received the brunt of the attention and promotion at the time ofBatgirl’s canning.
Batgirlwas set to feature the titular character on her journey to grow as a hero and person. The film’s cast featured the likes of Jacob Scipio and Brendan Fraser in villainous roles and Michael Keaton and J. K. Simmons reprising their iconic roles as Batman and Jim Gordon from priorBatmanfilms alongside leading lady Leslie Grace.Batgirlwas switched from a planned theatrical releaseto a debut on HBO Max, with palpable fan anticipation surrounding its eventual release.
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However,Warner Bros. scrapped theBatgirlfilm entirelyin a highly controversial move that has still not been satisfactorily explained, least of all to co-directors El Arbi and Fallah.Insiderinterviewed the two filmmakers for an upcoming project when the conversation ventured into DCEU territory. “We watched it and we were sad,” Adil revealed after the focus of discussion turned toThe Flash. “We love director Andy Muschietti and his sister Barbara, who produced the movie. But when we watched it, we felt we could have been part of the whole thing. We didn’t get the chance to show Batgirl to the world and let the audience judge for themselves. Because the audience really is our ultimate boss and should be the deciders of if something is good or bad, or if something should be seen or not.”
While the fans didn’t get the opportunity to judge the film, the executives at Warner Bros certainly took a stab at it, with DC Studios boss Peter Safran claimingBatgirlwould have hurt the DC brandif released as previously planned. This contradicted the statement given by a Warner Bros. spokesperson at the time of cancellation, which explicitly stated that the quality of the project didn’t factor into the decision. Another source claimed that the film was scrapped because WBD boss David Zaslav wanted all future projects to have a grand theatrical scale, a quality not foremost in mind when creatingBatgirl. “Our movie was very different than ‘The Flash,'” Adil admitted. “That has a big fantasy component; ours was more grounded. More like Tim Burton’s Gotham City.”
The Flash,a DCEU project that American audiences believeddeserved to be canceled following Ezra Miller’s antics, was the primary focus of the DCEU at the time ofBatgirl’s cancellation in no small part due to its significant budget and its place as a transitory tool to reboot the franchise. The movie’s seemingly unshakable safety in the face of controversy, coupled with Amber Heard’s continued role as Mera inAquaman and the Lost Kingdompost-Depp trial, acted as catalysts that quickened the anger within the fanbase towards the cancellation ofBatgirl. However, the show’s directors have seemingly put the injustice behind them and are willing to work with DC again, with Fallal adding, “There’s still a feeling of unfinished business.”
WhiletheBatgirldirectors working with DC againwould be a conditional affair, both filmmakers seem motivated to prove themselves to the fans if allowed to be a part of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s rebooted DCU. “Our love for DC, Batman,Batgirl, Gotham City, it’s so big that, as fans, we could never say no to another project,” Adil said in closing. “If we got another chance to be part of it, we’d do it. We didn’t get our day in court. We still want to make our case.”
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