Boo-able Warner Bros. Discovery honcho David Zaslav has made many boneheaded decisions during his tenure, but perhaps the cruelest involved shelving two movies that were almost complete. One was the animated Scooby-Doo sequel. The other was Batgirl, which was to deepen the since mid-revamping DCEU. Instead Zaslav put all his chips on The Flash. That didn’t go so hot. And now, a year after the shelving, Batgirl’s directors are opening up about the aftermath.
In an interview with Insider, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, who also helmed the threequel Bad Boys for Life, spoke about what it was like to see The Flash, the movie that Zaslav let live while snuffing theirs out.
“We watched it and we were sad,” Adil said. “We love director Andy Muschietti and his sister Barbara, who produced the movie. But when we watched it, we felt we could have been part of the whole thing.”
They lamented how the movie was essentially just erased, seen only by certain cast and crew members.
“We didn’t get the chance to show Batgirl to the world and let the audience judge for themselves,” Adil said. “Because the audience really is our ultimate boss and should be the deciders of if something is good or bad, or if something should be seen or not.”
So what was Batgirl even like? “Our movie was very different than The Flash,” Adil explained. “That has a big fantasy component, ours was more grounded. More like Tim Burton’s Gotham City.”
Adil called the ordeal the “biggest disappointment of our careers.” And yet they’re not above working for Warner Bros. Discovery again.
“There’s still a feeling of unfinished business,” Bilall said.
“Our love for DC, Batman, Batgirl, Gotham City, it’s so big that, as fans, we could never say no to another project,” added Adil. “If we got another chance to be part of it, we’d do it. We didn’t get our day in court. We still want to make our case.”
In the meantime, at least they have a new movie coming to theaters: the Syrian war drama Rebel. And perhaps Batgirl may one day see the light of day, one of these days.
(Via Insider)
