With it moving from a theatrical project to an HBO Max project with theatrical potential, we learned back in May that the Batgirl film had found its directors by bringing on Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah for the project. The pair have been riding high on their work for Bad Boys for Life which did significant numbers just before the pandemic and breathed new life into the franchise that most figured was done. They’ll be working from the script that Christina Hodson put together.
Now, after hearing there was a shortlist of potential leads earlier this week, Warner Bros. and D Films have picked Leslie Grace to play Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl. Naturally, the studio is not saying anything at the moment. Grace was in contention with Isabella Merced, Zoey Deutch, and Haley Lu Richardson.
The singer/songwriter only has one film under her belt at this point and that lack of extensive credits is likely viewed as a positive in order to move into the iconic role. She was seen earlier this summer in the Warner Bros. film In the Heights, which also had an HBO Max run.
Batgirl has been riding a solid fan following for the past decade or so under several writers for DC Comics, reworking and building her up in new ways since her introduction in 1967 by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino. While she’s appeared in numerous animated feature films and TV series and the ’66 Batman TV show, she’s never made the leap to feature film.
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[Source: Deadline]
