Batgirl co-director Bilall Fallah recently discussed his failed attempt to save the DC Extended Universe film after Warner Bros. canceled it.
Fallah recalled his unsuccessful efforts to record footage from the axed HBO Max exclusive during an interview with SKRIPT. "No, we have nothing [from the movie]," he said. "[Co-director] Adil [El Arbi] called and told me, 'Go ahead! Shoot everything on your phone!' I went on the server... Everything was gone. We were [like]... 'Fucking shit!'... We did not [even] keep [the scenes] with Batman in [them]."
Warner Bros. sent shockwaves through the industry when it abruptly scrapped Batgirl in August 2022, despite the film being fully shot and well into post-production. While numerous reasons for Batgirl's cancelation were cited in the media, Warner Bros.'s official position is that it pulled the plug on the project because it didn't align with the studio's new 10-year plan for the DCEU. El Arbi and Fallah subsequently issued a joint response via Instagram, describing themselves as "saddened and shocked" by the news and expressing disappointment that fans will never see the finished film. The filmmaking duo also praised Batgirl's cast and crew, and maintained that being part of the DCEU only temporarily was nevertheless "a privilege and an honor".
Photos From the Canceled Batgirl Movie Emerge Online
Although El Arbi and Fallah weren't able to capture any Batgirl video before Warner Bros. shut it down, photos from the production continue to surface online. El Arbi himself recently shared a behind-the-scenes snap of Leslie Grace as Batgirl and Michael Keaton as Batman between takes while shooting at night, with the co-director positioned between the pair. Keaton's return as the Dark Knight was arguably the most anticipated aspect of Batgirl, and fans will now have to wait to until The Flash hits cinemas in 2023 to see the actor don the iconic cape and cowl again.
Around the same time, Leslie Grace circulated two images of the "battle damage" makeup she sported over the course of the Batgirl shoot. The star is clad in her comics-accurate purple and yellow Batsuit in the first image and an all-black, logo-free outfit in the second. This suggests that the two pics were taken while filming two separate scenes, a theory further supported by the noticeably different faux-blood spatters on Grace's face from image to image. Grace also shared a photo previously posted by her co-star Jacob Scipio that depicts the moment Batgirl and crime boss Anthony Bressi are caught in the path of an explosion, as well.
Source: SKRIPT, via YouTube