BATGIRL Directors Say the Cancelation Was a "Traumatic Experience", But They Will Be Meeting with James Gunn
There’s no doubt there were a lot of emotions that directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah were feeling when the new CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery canceled their Batgirl movie for a tax write-off. It seems like such a slap in the face to the cast and crew of the film, which starred Leslie Grace in the title role. I mean, the movie was almost finished!
During a recent interview with Deadline, they open up about what it was like for them. Fallah said: "It was a traumatic experience. [El Arbi and I] went through all the emotions." El Arbi added: "At that time, it was pretty unprecedented, so it was like movie history, but in a crazy way. There was still a lot of work to be done but they just said it was financial decisions and so that’s that and the movie can never be released."
In another interview with THR, they looked on the bright side of the situation, saying: “This is something that never happened before, so we’ve kind of become part of movie history without even trying!”
They go on to share that they also got a lot of support from other filmmakers that reached out to them including James Gunn, Kevin Feige, and Edgar Wright. Fallah explained: “There was so much support from people in the industry. [I]t felt like all the artists were supporting us, and that’s a great feeling, because you feel like you’re not alone.”
Fallah and El Arbi have yet to meet with James Gunn as DC Studios, but they will as “the meetings are in the books.” I assume this meeting won’t involve reviving the canceled Batgirl project, but I imagine it will involve directing a future DC project, which they will be happy to do.
When asked if that’d work with WB again, Fallah said: “Yeah, we’d still work with them, but on the condition that the movie comes out. I mean, if Warner says, ‘Do you want to do the next Batman or Superman?,’ of course, we’ll say yes. Just so long as the movie comes out!”
It’s a shame that we’ll never get to see this movie, but I’m sure that one day we will get a Batgirl movie. It just won’t be this one.