Leslie Grace has weighed in on the abrupt and unexpected shelving of HBO Max’s Batgirl movie, expressing her thanks and pride at what she and the “incredible cast and tireless crew” created.
“Querida familia!” the 27-year-old Dominican American star of In the Heights captioned an Instagram post containing 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!”
Grace also took to her IG Stories to post a page from Batgirl: Year One featuring this apt Barbara Gordon narration: “I have to find another path. Divine my own future. One uniquely mine. Not a page from someone else’s book. Not a fate that begins and ends on page one.”
Earlier Wednesday, Grace reshared a “Shake It Off”-soundtracked clip, simply writing “vibes.”
Word arrived Tuesday that Warner Bros. Discovery made the decision to nix the already-filmed $90 million project, which was set to feature the return of Michael Keaton, 70, as Batman for the first time in 30 years. WB CEO David Zaslav reportedly believed Batgirl “simply did not work,” while Deadline reporter Justin Kroll said a “rival studio exec” was gobsmacked by the move, admitting they’ve “worked in this town for three decades and this is some unprecedented shit.”
Co-directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (Ms. Marvel, Bad Boys for Life) stated that they’re in disbelief as well as “saddened and shocked,” shouting out “the great Leslie Grace” for imbuing Gordon/Batgirl with “so much passion, dedication and humanity.”
“As directors, it is critical that our work be shown to audiences, and while the film was far from finished, we wish that fans all over the world would have had the opportunity to see and embrace the final film themselves,” they wrote. “Our amazing cast and crew did a tremendous job and worked so hard to bring Batgirl to life. … In any case, as huge fans of Batman since we were little kids, it was a privilege and an honor to have been part of the DCEU, even if it was for a brief moment. Batgirl For Life.”
News arrived today that at least six HBO Max original films have been quietly scrubbed from the service, including Superintelligence starring Melissa McCarthy, the remake of Roald Dahl’s The Witches starring Anne Hathaway, and Seth Rogen’s An American Pickle. The Wrap reported that 70 percent of Max’s development team will soon be laid off, and Varietynoted the fact that Warner Bros. Discovery will “almost certainly take a tax write-down” was likely integral in shutting down Batgirl.
