“Querida familia! Following the recent news about our film ‘Batgirl’ I am proud of the love, hard work and intention of all our incredible cast and tireless crew for this film over 7 months in Scotland. 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!” the CAA actress wrote. The post also contains a collection of images and videos from the filming of the film. Grace won the role of Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl, after a final round that included Isabella Merced, Zoey Deutch and Haley Lu Richardson, as Deadline’s Justin Kroll first reported. Her previous feature credits include Warner Bros. In the Heights in which she played the role of Nina Rosario. Grace’s response comes after DC’s directors of photography, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, expressed this morning that they were “saddened and shocked by the news” and that it was “crucial to get our work out to the public”. . As Deadline told you yesterday, the duo first learned the news when they were in Morocco for El Arbi’s wedding. Yesterday, word leaked that Warner Bros. Discovery killed off Batgirl, two days before its quarterly earnings, to take advantage of an “accounting purchases” maneuver available to the group given that the company recently changed hands. That deal expires in mid-August and allows WBD to avoid having to carry the losses on its books at a time when the studio is trying to find $3 billion in cost-saving synergies. this particular film costs about 70 million dollars. Some of our sources are scratching their heads at this thought: How much money did Warners have to save here? $15-20 million at most some say — which is nothing when you’re aiming for $3 billion. Plus, if Batgirl went straight to HBO Max, how could anyone determine if it was a success or a failure? HBO Max largely does not report viewership numbers for its series and movies. Other reasons why Warner Bros Discovery pulled Batgirl is their distribution shift towards theatrical film adoption rather than streaming, which was the plan under WarnerMedia’s previous regime under Jason Kilar. Additionally, Batgirl’s arrival on HBO Max would have ended DC’s multiverse plan with The Flash hitting theaters on July 23, 2023. While the prospect of killing off a film with a Latina lead seems repugnant to Warner Bros. Discovery, they released a statement last night saying, “The decision not to release Batgirl reflects a strategic change in our leadership as it relates to the DC Universe and HBO Max. Leslie Grace is an incredibly talented actress and this decision does not reflect on her performance. We are incredibly grateful to the filmmakers of Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt and their respective casts and we hope to work with everyone again in the near future.” Grace had the following tweet from January 14 pinned to the top of her account, celebrating Batgirl earlier this year and referencing Batgirl, Year One who wrote “I’m using their expectations against them. This will be their weakness. It’s not mine. Let them all despise me… And when their guard is down and their pride is up, let me kick their asses.” “I use their expectations against them. This will be their weakness. It’s not mine. Let everyone underestimate me… And when their guard is down and their pride is up, let me kick them.” – Batgirl, Year One 🦇 pic.twitter.com/gbIA5EbcUK — Leslie Grace (@lesliegrace) January 15, 2022
