Yahoo Movies Batgirl star Leslie Grace shares behind-the-scenes footage from canceled film
Batgirl star Leslie Grace shared behind-the-scenes footage from her shelved DC film.
The actress shared clips from various stages of production on TikTok, including her rehearsing for fight scenes and free-falling from a wire in front of a blue screen. "I couldn't resist," Grace captioned the video.
Warner Bros. canceled the release of the film, set to debut on HBO Max, while it was in post-production in August. During a second quarter earnings call announcing HBO Max's merger with Discovery+ that month, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav insinuated the cancellation had to do with quality when asked about the abrupt shelving.
"We're not going to launch a movie until it's ready," Zaslav said. "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." He said other DC superhero properties, including Black Adam, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and The Flash, remains at the "top of the list" for the studio.
Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah recently revealed that they tried to salvage footage from their film, but Warner Bros.' servers foiled their plan. "We have nothing," Fallah told French outlet SKRIPT. "Adil called me and said, 'Go ahead shoot some things on your cellphone.' I went on the server and everything was blocked."
Leslie Grace/Instagram Leslie Grace as Batgirl
El Arbi added, "We were like 'f---ing s---! All the scenes with Batman in them! S---!" (In what could have been, El Arbi teased the return of Michael Keaton as Batman earlier this month.) "The guys from Warners told us it was not a talent problem from our part or the actress, or even the quality of the movie," he said during the interview. "They told us it was a strategic change. There was new management, and they wanted to save some money."
The directors also said they were touched by public reaction to the film's cancellation. "Seeing all the support on Twitter, and even from big directors Edgar Wright and James Gunn, who sent us supportive messages, it was comforting." El Arbi said of the trending #ReleaseBatgirl hashtag. "After all we make movies for the audience, not for us. We just hope that one day the movie will be released, for the cast and crew. We are a small family."
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