We’ve heard all of the official statements from studio heads and passionate posts from those involved with the production, but now Batgirl directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah have been speaking candidly about the state of the movie at the point when Warner Bros. Discovery decided to shelve their $90M blockbuster, and how they no longer have access to anything they shot because it has been deleted from the servers.
Bad Boys for Life directors Adil and Bilall were speaking with French outlet SKRIPT (watch the full video here) about how they were right in the middle of the editing process when they heard from Warner Bros., who informed them of a “strategic change” and “a shifting in management” that would see the shelving of their Leslie Grace headlined HBO Max movie to “save some bucks”.
Adil also reveals that they were told that the decision was “not a talent problem from our part of the actress, or even the quality of the movie”.
In terms of how much of the movie was left to complete, El Arbi added that there was “a lot of job to do, so it was not like the movie was finished”, but he hoped that “one day, the movie would be released” a la Zack Snyder’s Justice League, even though “there would be a lot of work” as there are currently no VFX and they still had scenes to shoot.
However, the situation becomes even more frustrating for the duo when they reveal that they have saved no footage from Batgirl, with Bilal saying that when he went on the server “everything was gone”. The likeable duo conclude by offering up a completely understandable profanity, particularly because they no longer have any of the scenes they filmed with Michael Keaton’s returning Batman.
SEE ALSO: Leslie Grace could return as Batgirl, Killer Moth design revealed
Do you think the Batgirl movie will ever emerge from the shadows of post-production hell with the help of a hashtag campaign, or do you think Warner Bros. Discovery have clipped her wings for good? Let us know what you think of Adil and Bilall’s comments by heading to our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Batgirl was directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (Bad Boys For Life) and featured Leslie Grace (In the Heights) as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, J.K. Simmons (Justice League) as Commissioner Jim Gordon, Micheal Keaton (The Flash) as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Brendan Fraser (Doom Patrol) as Firefly, Ivory Aquino (When They See Us) as Alysia Yeoh and Jacob Scipio (Bad Boys for Life), Rebecca Front (Avenue 5), Corey Johnson (Morbius) and Ethan Kai (Killing Eve) in unrevealed roles.