Leslie Grace Reveals Upgraded Batgirl Costume And Behind-The-Scenes Photos From Canceled HBO Max Film
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Leslie Grace is giving fans a taste of the Batgirl costume that could have been. The In the Heights actress shared a retrospective look back at her 2022 on Instagram that included several behind-the-scenes glimpses of the Batgirl production.
Grace was slated to star as the titular vigilante hero in a planned film for HBO Max. But in August 2022, it was revealed that Warner Bros. decided to scrap the film entirely, despite production being nearly finished.
The Instagram video features clips of Grace filming as Barbara Gordon, stunt training footage, behind-the-scenes shots and the actress in her trailer with a face covered in SFX makeup bruises and goofing around on the set of the project, alongside her cast and crew. The compilation also includes photos, including one of Grace with Brendan Fraser’s Firefly, and reveals the final costume of Grace’s Batgirl, which is reminiscent of Michael Keaton’s Batman costume.
Keaton was set to reprise his role as Batman in the film.
“Thank u for teachin’ me, 2022,” Grace wrote in the caption. “You were singular in many ways that will stay with me. my gratitude and love for life is much deeper thanks to the experiences you brought me. i take your lessons with me as we part.🙏🏽”
She added, “Here’s to many more stories to tell, memories to make, and love to give in 2023 📓🌱🤎✨
Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah spoke out about Warner Bros.’ decision. “We are saddened and shocked by the news,” the duo shared in a statement posted to Instagram. “We still can’t believe it. 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.”
In an interview with the French outlet SKRIPT, the duo claimed they were in the middle of editing when the decision came down, and they later tried to salvage footage, but Warner Bros. blocked access to their servers.
It isn’t the first time that Grace has shown fans a look at the work of the Batgirl crew. A little over a month after she broke her silence about DC canceling the film, the actress shared two videos on her TikTok with several clips of production, with the second set to a song she co-wrote with Lauren LaRue, titled “Bad Girls Get Lonely Too.”
“I couldn’t resist,” she captioned the first video, soundtracked by Omar Apollo’s “Evergreen (You Didn’t Deserve Me At All).”
In an interview with Variety last year, Fraser called the decision to cancel Batgirl “tragic.” “It doesn’t engender trust among filmmakers and the studio,” Fraser said in October. “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.”
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