If you hear the same thing often enough, then there’s a distinct possibility there’s at least a shred of truth to it, so there are plenty of reasons to believe that Batgirl really was as awful as we’ve been told.
Even though Warner Bros. spent an estimated $90 million dollars on the HBO Max exclusive blockbuster, new CEO David Zaslav pulled the plug and confirmed that it was never going to be released in any form. While the decision was put down to tax incentives and cost-cutting measures, word began to spread that Batgirl simply wasn’t up to scratch.
In fact, DC Studios co-chief Peter Safran came right out and said that the film in its finished form wasn’t just “unreleasable,” but putting it out into the world would have actively damaged the brand in both the short and long-term. Naturally, star Leslie Grace wasn’t going to sing from that songbook when she was asked about it in an interview with Variety.
“I had my own meetings with Warner Bros. Film Group CEOs Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca, and they explained to me, on a granular level, what they felt about the project, things that were out of their hands, plans and budgets that were set in place before they were even part of the team. There are a lot of things that I learned through the experience about moviemaking, that as an actress you have no control over.
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. But I’m a human being, and people have perceptions and people read things. 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.”
Of course, the star of the project isn’t going to openly admit that the biggest role of their career up to that point sucked so hard that it had to be buried six feet under and never spoken of again, but there’s a sneaking suspicion that Batgirl may have been hidden from the world for a very good reason.
