Batgirl star Leslie Grace has shared behind-the-scenes footage from the canceled DC film, which was originally scheduled to be released on HBO Max later this year.
In the montage of clips, which she shared on social media, the 27-year-old actress can be seen rehearsing fight choreography, getting her makeup done, and free-falling from a ledge while attached to wires. The video also features Grace’s co-star Brendan Fraser, who played Firefly in the film, doing push-ups on set.
“I couldn’t resist,” Grace captioned the video.
In August, Warner Bros. announced that Batgirl, which was directed by Bad Boys for Life filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, had been scrapped entirely, with no plans for it to be released on any platform. The news came after the project, which had a budget that reportedly ballooned from $70-80 million up to $90 million due to COVID-19 protocols, had already completed shooting.
“We’re not going to launch a movie until it’s ready,” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said at the time. “We’re not going to launch a movie to make a quarter and we’re not going to put a movie out unless we believe in it.”
Batgirl would’ve seen Grace make her return to the big screen after last year’s breakthrough role in the movie adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning musical In The Heights. Its cast also included Brendan Fraser as villain Firefly and J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon.
Back in August, Grace addressed the news in a post on Instagram.
“Querida familia!” she captioned a compilation of behind-the-scenes videos and photos. “On the heels of the recent news about our movie ‘Batgirl,’ I am proud of the love, hard work and intention all of our incredible cast and tireless crew put into this film over 7 months in Scotland. I feel blessed to have worked among absolute greats and forged relationships for a lifetime in the process! To every Batgirl fan—THANK YOU for the love and belief, allowing me to take on the cape and become, as Babs said best, ‘my own damn hero!’ #Batgirl for life!”
