Batgirl Star Leslie Grace Teases Her Costume
After years of anticipation, the DC Films universe finally has its Batgirl, with In the Heights star Leslie Grace expected to play the character in an HBO Max movie. There's already been a lot of anticipation surrounding Grace's take on the character, especially given Barbara Gordon's unique and ever-evolving history in the DC universe. Along the way, Barbara has sported an array of different costumes — and apparently, there's no telling what it will look like. As Grace explained in a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, she has "no idea" what her costume in the film will look like, but she's "dying" to know.
"No, I'm dying! They haven't told me anything, I honestly cannot leak anything, even if I knew," Grace revealed. "But I have no idea! I think probably until I head off, I won't know much, but I'm dying to know what that outfit looks like. I know that I'm going to be fitting, like, 35 different fittings for this costume."
"It's a big deal, so we want to get it right. I'm excited to see what that process is going to be like. My mom's dying to know," Grace continued. "Yeah, she wants to know hair, everything!"
Created by William Dozier, Julius Schwartz, Gardner Fox, and Carmine Infantino and initially debuting in 1967's Detective Comics #359, Barbara Gordon is the young daughter of Commissioner Gordon, who moonlighted as a vigilante while working as the head of the Gotham City Public Library. Over time, Barbara began to become an even more prominent character in the DC universe, and after becoming paralyzed during the events of 1988's Batman: The Killing Joke, she pivoted to operating as the hacker and computer expert Oracle. In the 2011 New 52 relaunch, Barbara recovered from her paralysis thanks to a surgery, and has operated as both Batgirl and Oracle in certain contexts.
The Batgirl film has been in the works in some capacity since 2017, and has ramped up development in recent months, enlisting Ms. Marvel and Bad Boys For Life directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah to helm the upcoming project. The Batgirl script is written by Christina Hodson, whose work includes Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) and the upcoming The Flash movie.
"She's someone who's been underestimated by even her own dad and being the youngest kid, sometimes you're insulated from all of the tough stuff of life and she's so eager to prove to herself and to everybody else that there's some things that she can handle," Grace said elsewhere in the interview. "So, this journey is definitely going to show me a lot of that. I feel like I'm on an endless journey of proving to myself what barriers I can break, what limits I can break for myself and I'm excited to put a little bit of that eagerness and drive and, like, almost a bit of stubbornness into Barbara's character."
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