Brendan Fraser says Batgirl 's 'tragic' cancellation 'doesn't engender trust' with filmmakers
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Batgirl star Brendan Fraser is still smoldering about the film's abrupt cancellation.
"It's tragic," he told Variety of the decision to shelve the nearly finished $90 million film, in which he played DC supervillain Firefly opposite Leslie Grace's titular crime-fighting hero. The movie was meant to debut on HBO Max, but after filming had been completed, it was suddenly scrapped, an apparent casualty of the Discovery-WarnerMedia merger.
"It doesn't engender trust among filmmakers and the studio," Fraser continued. "Leslie Grace was fantastic. She's a dynamo, just a spot-on performer. Everything that we shot was real and exciting and just the antithesis of doing a straightforward digital all-green screen thing. They ran firetrucks around downtown Glasgow at 3 in the morning, and they had flamethrowers. It was a big-budget movie, but one that was just stripped down to the essentials."
Jeff Spicer/Getty Images; Leslie Grace/Instagram
Warner Bros. opted not to release the film in theaters or on HBO Max to save money by taking a tax write-down. Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah created a rough cut from the footage, but Fraser said he hasn't seen it. "I don't eat half-baked cake," he explained. "Everything that Adil and Bilall shot felt real and exciting."
When Batgirl was shelved in August, the directors shared their disappointment on social media. "We are saddened and shocked by the news. We still can't believe it," they wrote in a joint statement on Instagram. "As directors, it is critical that our work be shown to audiences, and while the film was far from finished, we wish that fans all over the world would have had the opportunity to see and embrace the final film themselves. Maybe one day they will insha'Allah."
They went on to thank the cast and crew for a "tremendous job" and credited them for working "so hard to bring Batgirl to life." They also praised supporting stars like Batman series actor Michael Keaton, J.K. Simmons, Jacob Scipio, Corey Johnson, and Rebecca Front, as well as In the Heights' Grace.
"[She] portrayed Batgirl with so much passion, dedication, and humanity," they wrote. "In any case, as huge fans of Batman since we were little kids, it was a privilege and an honor to have been a part of the DCEU, even if it was for a brief moment. Batgirl For Life."
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