Leslie Grace has shared new Batgirl behind-the-scenes footage, offering a tease of the hard-hitting action for the canceled DC Extended Universe movie. The recently shelved movie was set to explore the origin story of Barbara Gordon, daughter to Gotham City Police Commissioner Jim Gordon, as she decides to take up the titular mantle and face off against the pyromaniac Firefly. Alongside Grace, the cast for Batgirl was set to include Brendan Fraser as Firefly, Ivory Aquino, Rebecca Front, Jacob Scipio, Corey Johnson and Ethan Kai, as well as the DCEU returns of J.K. Simmons as Jim Gordon and Bruce Wayne as Batman.
SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY
The Batgirl movie endured a rocky development cycle, with Joss Whedon having first been hired to write and direct, only for his inability to come up with a story leading to his exit. While it was able to later get off the ground with Bad Boys for Life duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah at the helm and Birds of Prey's Christina Hodson penning the script, the movie would find itself shelved following the Warner Bros. Discovery merger, with new CEO David Zaslav lacking confidence in the film and its theatrical prospects. Audiences have mourned Batgirl's cancelation in the time since it was announced, namely as one star continues to share new looks from the film.
Nearly two months after it was shelved by WBD, Leslie Grace took to TikTok to share new Batgirl BTS footage. The brief compilation features new looks at a number of the hard-hitting action from the canceled DCEU movie, including fight training for Grace and a snippet of an encounter seemingly with Firefly. Check out the footage below:
Batgirl Would Have Been A Hard-Hitting Action Movie
As evidenced by the new footage and another recently released Batgirl BTS video involving a chaotic Christmas tree stunt, the canceled DCEU movie had all the makings to be a major action outing. Interestingly, the new BTS footage also points towards the film having relied primarily on practical effects rather than the CGI-heavy set pieces most other DCEU titles are known for, save for James Gunn's The Suicide Squad and Cathy Yan's Birds of Prey. Given many audiences have expressed fatigue at the reliance of blue screen-based action, the new Batgirl BTS video's tease of grounded effects is sure to leave many further disappointed by the movie's cancelation.
One of the other interesting takeaways from the new Batgirl BTS footage is the brief snippet in which Leslie Grace's Barbara faces off against an unseen foe, likely to be that of Brendan Fraser's Firefly. While some comic book fans often lament changes to characters in adaptations, many were excited by the details teased for the villain, giving him a more sympathetic origin story, as well as celebrating Fraser's continued resurgence alongside his already acclaimed The Whale. While WBD has remained firm in their decision to not release the film, one can hope the outpour of support from audiences with each new bit of Batgirl BTS looks can influence the studio to change their mind.