The Batgirl Movie Just Got An Awesome Update
The co-director of the Batgirl movie just posted an awesome update.
This article is more than 2 years old
The Batgirl movie has had a bit of a stay in development limbo, but the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel is in sight. According to one of the directors, the script for Batgirl is finished.
The news comes straight from the co-director’s desk. The Batgirl movie is being directed by the same directorial team responsible for last year’s Bad Boys for Life, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. El Arbi posted a picture in his Instagram stories (via Slash Film) of the finished script. The screenwriter is Christina Hodson, who boasts 2018’s Bumblebee, last year’s Birds of Prey, and next year’s The Flash on her writing credits.
So far there aren’t a lot of other solid updates about the Batgirl movie, though we do know the titular Gotham City hero will be played by Leslie Grace (In the Heights). The Wrap announced last month that Grace had been tapped for the role after being screen tested against Zoey Deutch (Zombieland: Double Tap) and Isabela Merced (Transformers: The Last Knight).
Not long after Grace’s casting was announced, we learned Commissioner Gordon’s daughter hopefully won’t be making the movie without her dad. According to The Hollywood Reporter, JK Simmons is in talks to join the Batgirl movie in the role of James Gordon, which he first played in 2017’s Justice League.
If a rumor that surfaced in July is correct, Barbara Gordon will be facing off against a classic Batman villain. The Illuminerdi reported that the makers of the Batgirl movie were looking for someone in his 50s or 60s to play the villain, who would be a “disgruntled former firefighter.” This sounds a lot like Garfield Lynns, aka the pyromaniac villain Firefly. Arrow fans may remember the character appearing in the the series’ inaugural season, and most Batman: Arkham Knight players will no doubt remember racing after him in a series of side quests.
We also learned last month that — sometime after the release of both the Batgirl movie and next year’s The Flash — we could be seeing Leslie Grace throwing down with someone a lot more formidable than Firefly or any other Batman villain. One of our trusted and proven sources let us know that a Batgirl vs. Supergirl movie is in development. Along with Grace, it would presumably star Sasha Calle who has been cast as Supergirl for The Flash.
It was originally the now controversial director Joss Whedon attached to direct the Batgirl movie, back when Variety reported the movie was in the works in 2017. The following year, per THR, Whedon reported he was stepping away from the project, saying it had taken him months to discover that he “really didn’t have a story.”
News dropped in May that the Batgirl movie had been rescued from development limbo by El Arbi and Fallah. The directors won’t only be bringing DC heroes to a live-action adaptation either. The pair also collaborated on two episodes of the upcoming Disney+ Ms. Marvel series.
In the meantime, if you absolutely can’t wait for the Batgirl movie for some Batgirl action, Barbara Gordon fights crime as a recurring character in HBO Max’s animated Harley Quinn series, voiced by Briana Cuoco.
