Batgirl star Leslie Grace and directors react to film being canned by Warner Bros: ‘Saddened and shocked’

Late on Tuesday night, news broke that Warner Bros Discovery, the studio behind the DC Extended Universe, had cancelled the upcoming superhero film Batgirl. As per reports, despite the film being 90% complete, the studio decided not to release it in theatres or its OTT platform HBO Max, citing ‘poor quality’. Now, Leslie Grace, the film’s star, and directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah have reacted to the cancellation. Also read: Priyanka Chopra now wants to play Batgirl

Taking to Instagram, Leslie, who was playing Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl in the film, shared a carousel of pictures and videos of herself from the film’s sets, many of which featured her in the Batgirl costume. The accompanying caption read, “Querida familia! 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!”

The film’s director duo, too, shared a statement on Instagram on Wednesday, where they admitted they were ‘shocked and saddened’. Both posted on their separate accounts, “We are saddened and shocked by the news. We still can’t believe it. 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 the opportunity to see and embrace the final film themselves.”

While praising their cast and crew members, the filmmakers added they were privileged to have been part of the DCEU for a short of time. “In any case, as huge fans of Batman since we were little kids, it was a privilege and an honor to have been a part of the DCEU, even if it was for a brief moment. Batgirl For Life,” their note read.

Batgirl also featured JK Simmons, Brendan Fraser, and Michael Keaton reprising his role as Batman. The film was set to release later this year on HBO Max with the filming having taken place between November 2021 and March 2022. However, earlier this week, the studio announced they no longer planned to release it due to low evaluations by test audiences, the studio’s cost-cutting measures and refocus on theatrical releases.