Featured Image Credit: @lesliegrace/Instagram
Topics: Film and TV, DC Comics
Callum Jones
Batgirl star Leslie Grace has rejected the reason from Warner Bros. Discovery as to why the film ended up being scrapped.
Last year, the company cancelled plans to ever release Batgirl despite the fact that the film was near to completion.
Warner Bros. Discovery reportedly cited disappointing screen tests as the reason why the film had been canned, even though WB had already spent $90 million on it.
Batgirl was co-directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, with the likes of Leslie Grace and Brendan Fraser starring as part of its cast.
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Grace said that she had no idea the film was going to be cancelled until she saw the report from the New York Post.
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"I found out like the rest of you," she told Variety. "And then my phone just started blowing up."
Grace spoke to the outlet for the first time since Batgirl was cancelled in August, saying that she does not exactly agree with the reasoning as to why it was cancelled.
The actor responded to claims made by DC Studios head Peter Safran, who said that the film was 'not releasable' and that it would hurt DC if they were to release it.
Grace said: "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.
"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."
Grace was also asked about whether she had an indication that the film was not going to work while filming.
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"I’m not going to lie to you. In every film, there are obstacles, and our film was nothing short of that," she said.
"Half of the shoot was night shoots in Scotland, where it never stops raining.
"So there were obstacles, but at the end of the day, because of the incredible crew, nothing that ever got in the way of us delivering what we knew we wanted to deliver for this film.
"At least from what I was able to see."
Elsewhere in the interview, Grace said that she did see a final cut of the film, though it was missing a few parts.
She also said that the scenes she did see were 'incredible', making it even more surprising that it was cancelled.
According to a Warner Bros spokesperson, the decision to shelve the film was due to "our leadership’s strategic shift as it relates to the DC universe and HBO Max'.
They continued: “Leslie Grace is an incredibly talented actor and this decision is not a reflection of her performance.”
UNILAD has reached out to Warner Bros. for comment.