BatgirldirectorsAdil El ArbiandBilall Fallahrevealed that they were blocked from the project’s servers right before theylearned about the cancellation, an action that prevented them from keeping footage from the film. In an interview forSKRIPT, the directors also reiterated how the movie’s quality was not considered for the project’s shelving.
StarringLeslie Graceas the titular superhero,Batgirlwas initially scheduled to hit HBO Max sometime in 2022. However, despite the movie costing $90 million to produce, Warner Bros. Discovery decided to use the project for a tax write-down, a move that prohibits the company from ever making a profit with the footage they already had. So, as soon as El Arbi and Fallah learned aboutBatgirl’s cancellation, they thought about making a backup of some of the scenes they worked so hard to create. As Fallah tells it:
“Adil [El Arbi] called me and told me, ‘Go ahead! Shoot everything on your phone!' I went on the server… And everything was blocked. There was no way to access the film. We were: ‘Fucking shit! All the scenes with Batman we didn’t get to keep!”
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Batgirl was supposed to starMichael Keatonas the Batman, a role he hadn’t played for three decades sinceTim Burton’s 1989Batmanand 1992Batman Returns. While we didn’t know the role Batman would play in the film, Keaton is also expected to show up as the Dark Knight forThe Flash, a movie that’sstill on track to be released. IfBatgirl’s directors had been able to make a copy of the footage on their phone, maybe we could know how exactly both projects connected in the DC Extended Universe original plans.
During the interview, El Arbi and Fallah also underlined how the movie’s quality did not play a part in Warner Bros. Discovery’s decision. After all, they were still in the middle of the editing process, before any VFX was added toBatgirl, and while some reshoots were still planned. As Fallah says:
“It was not a talent problem on our part, the actress, or even the quality of the movie. We were right in the middle of editing, there was still a lot of work to be done! It was not like the movie was finished. But they told us it was a strategic change. New management. And they could save some cash.”
Warner Bros. Discovery is currently working on their newly announced a10-year plan for the DC Extended Universe, a strategy that apparently couldn’t exist withBatgirl. The company has also shelved theSupergirlandWonder Twinsmovies, which means no unreleased project is safe until the DCEU finishes restructuring.
Check out the full interview below. But watch out for the English subtitles, as they present a few translation errors. For instance,Batgirlwas not erased from Warner Bros. Discovery servers. The directors only got blocked and couldn’t access the footage anymore.
