Batgirl star Leslie Grace is speaking out about the shocking news of her movie’s demise.
The movie was scrapped by Warner Bros Discovery in August 2022, despite a budget that clocked in at over $90 million.
In a new interview with Variety, Grace admitted that she wasn’t told about the project being scrapped before it hit the headlines.
“I found out like the rest of you,” Grace explained.
“And then my phone just started blowing up…It was like deflating a balloon.”
“On that day, I was very much just taking it all in, but also so sure of the magic that happened — in my experience and what I saw in my cast, in our team — that I was like, ‘This must be some crazy thing that we have no control over.'”
Brendan Fraser, who also starred in the canceled project, said that he thought he was “getting punked” when the news broke.
“When we were expecting XYZ amount of support and money to expand scenes — to do pickup shots and those kinds of things — that was a gut punch,” he dished.
“But then we learned that it was in the interest of writing down some debt? That part really stung.”
Grace elaborated and opened up about a meeting with Warner Bros. Film Group CEOs Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca about the project.
“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,” Grace said.
“There are a lot of things that I learned through the experience about moviemaking, that as an actress you have no control over,” the star recalled.
“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.”
New DC Studios co-head Peter Safran recently said Batgirl was “not releasable,” adding to the quality concern rumors.
“I’m not going to lie to you. In every film, there are obstacles, and our film was nothing short of that,” Grace said of the movie.
“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.”
The star has never watched a final cut of the movie.
“That’s the one thing I asked for. I got to see the film as far as it got to; the film wasn’t complete by the time that it was tested,” she explained.
“There were a bunch of scenes that weren’t even in there. They were at the beginning of the editing process, and they were cut off because of everything going on at the company. But the film that I got to see — the scenes that were there — was incredible.”
“There was definitely potential for a good film, in my opinion. Maybe we’ll get to see clips of it later on.”
She added, “We’ve definitely had conversations about Batgirl’s future and how Batgirl can make a resurgence. I think fans are looking forward to seeing that. We’ll just see where that takes us; I can’t say one way or the other if that is a reality at this point.”
“I can’t speak too much about a future for Batgirl or guarantee anything. The last thing that I would want to do is give folks any kind of inkling of something that I have not much control over — as we’ve learned.”
“I tend to be a very optimistic and positive person in these types of circumstances, and I just really leaned on the beauty of the idea that I got to have this experience in my life,” Grace concluded.
“Even though I would’ve loved to share that with the rest of the world, nothing can take that experience away from us.”
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Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.
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