An army of Barbara Gordon fans isn’t the only group upset about losing Batgirl to DC’s rash of slash-and-burn recovery tactics. Brendan Fraser, who starred in the canceled film as the villain Firefly, says the loss of the movie is “tragic,” and he’s disappointed by the turn of events.
Fraser is experiencing a surge in popularity after being out of the Hollywood game for several years. He’s recently delivered an awards-worthy performance in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, and casting agents are banging on his door to join their promising projects. You would think that DC would see the value in allowing Batgirl to fly in theaters or, at the very least, become an HBO Max exclusive. However, Chief Executive Officer and President of Warner Bros. Discovery, David Zaslav, saw little value in the film directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. In so many words, Zaslav said the movie wasn’t up to snuff and vaulted the near-complete project in favor of receiving a tax write-off.
“It’s tragic,” Fraser told Variety about the loss of Batgirl. “It doesn’t engender trust among filmmakers and the studio. Leslie Grace was fantastic. She’s a dynamo — just a spot-on performer. Everything 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.”
Sadly, the almighty dollar conquers all in the movie business, and Zaslav appears to have a specific vision for the future of DC Films. While the motivation to recoup a portion of WB’s staggering debt heavily factors into the decision to cancel Batgirl, Zaslav’s actions could have lasting adverse effects on Warner Bros. Discovery. I’m still pissed about it. I will be for a very long time. Barbara Gordon is one of my favorite characters from the DC Universe, and it would have been great to judge the quality of the film for ourselves, no?
Are you upset about not being able to see Fraser’s performance as Firefly in the defunct Batgirl film? Let us know in the comments.