Batgirl Star Brendan Fraser Calls Film's Cancellation "Heartbreaking"

Actor Brendan Fraser has earned a number of major hits with fans in recent years, though the upcoming Batgirl on HBO Max was slated to be a breakout opportunity for star Leslie Grace, with Fraser reflecting on the decision by Warner Bros. to scrap the film as "heartbreaking" for how that will impact Grace's career. Making the cancellation all the more disappointing to everyone is that, rather than there being any sort of issues with the film's actual quality, it was entirely financially motivated as the cancellation of the film afforded the studio a tax break. Batgirl had wrapped principal photography at the time of its cancellation.

"I mean, [Leslie Grace is] a dynamo. She worked really hard too," Fraser shared with GQ. "It was just heartbreaking that upper management could be so cold to just sh-tcan it for a tax write-off."

Fraser played the villain Firefly in the new film, while he's still starring in the DC series Doom Patrol as Robotman. 

This is only Fraser's latest comment on the project, having previously expressed how tragic the entire endeavor has become.

"It's tragic," Fraser explained to Variety last month. "It doesn't engender trust among filmmakers and the studio. Leslie Grace was fantastic. She's a dynamo, just a spot-on performer. Everything that we shot was real and exciting and just the antithesis of doing a straightforward digital all-greenscreen thing. They ran firetrucks around downtown Glasgow at three in the morning and they had flamethrowers. It was a big-budget movie, but one that was just stripped down to the essentials." 

The actor added, "Everything that [directors Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi] shot felt real and exciting." 

For the last five years, there's been a lot of behind-the-scenes turmoil at Warner Bros. in regard to DC films, with those issues largely kicking off when Zack Snyder stepped away from his Justice League. As if that wasn't a devastating enough blow to fans, the underwhelming theatrical release of Justice League ignited campaigns from both fans and Snyder himself to release his original cut of the film, which included Snyder releasing various photos and other teases of his original project for years. In March 2021, Zack Snyder's Justice League was released on HBO Max.

With James Gunn and Peter Safran recently tapped to spearhead the future of DC films at the studio, some audiences are surely hoping Batgirl can get a similar treatment and ultimate release in some capacity.

Stay tuned for details on the possible future of Batgirl.

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