“Querida familia! Following the recent news about our Batgirl film, I am so 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,” Grace wrote on Instagram. “I feel blessed to have worked among absolute greats and forged lifelong relationships in the process! To every Batgirl fan – THANK YOU for the love and faith, allowing me to take on the cape and be, as Babs said best, “my own damn hero!” Batgirl for life!” Grace, 27, rose to fame with her big screen adaptation of In the Heights and would be a rare Latina actor to star in a superhero movie. Grace accompanied her post with a behind-the-scenes video of the film, which showed her singing along to I Will Always Love You while working on costumes. The surprise decision by Warner Bros. was made on August 2, when the studio said the film, which had a budget of $90 million, would not be shown in theaters or in its partnership with HBO Max. Speculation that the film’s quality was the determining factor behind the appeal not to see it was disputed by some. Some have claimed that the rationale is based on the tax write-off from burying the film, which outweighs the potential profits from its release, particularly due to the heavy marketing costs required to promote it. Some have also suggested that the studio was unhappy with the scope of the film, which was designed for HBO Max, instead of matching its recent blockbusters. On Wednesday, Batgirl directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah said they were “saddened and shocked” by the news. “Still can’t believe it,” wrote the pair, whose previous credits include Bad Boys for Life. “As filmmakers, it’s critical to get our work out to the public, and while the film was far from complete, we wish fans around the world had the opportunity to see and embrace the finished film for themselves. Maybe one day they will insha’Allah.” As recently as April, Grace told Variety that talks were already underway for a Batgirl sequel. “There are crazy stunts, crazy drops,” added Grace. “She’s a biker chick, so you’re going to see her get up to a lot of mischief… There were a lot of long days, but it was worth it.” The film, which co-stars Brendan Fraser and JK Simmons, was shot entirely in Glasgow, whose city council had agreed to give Warner Bros a £150,000 “cinema grant” to choose the location. Council leader Susan Aitken defended her involvement on Twitter, writing that “the production created over 1,000 local jobs for crew, traders and extras”. He added: “No public money has been paid to Warner Bros, but the city was getting direct income from the production, e.g. parking charges. The wider economic benefits to the local supply chain and other businesses such as hospitality have yet to be fully quantified but have been very significant.” Some local business owners have expressed their disappointment that the significant disruption caused by the production during filming was for nothing. Robert Chambers of clothing store Social Recluse told the BBC that the £1,000 compensation he received for having to close for 10 days was insufficient. “We usually have a busy January, but that month we couldn’t collect our online orders from Royal Mail because the road was closed,” he said.