Batgirl (2022) (1 Viewer)

[Jake Lipson]

Leslie Grace has a *single* credit before this casting in what should be a major film.

In the Heights is one of the best-reviewed movies of the year and Leslie Grace is sensational in it. Plus, both Heights and Batgirl are for Warner, so people at the studio are already familiar with her. She delivered for them last time and I think she will again.

And it's being directed by a pair of rather inexperienced directors

Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah directed Bad Boys For Life which made $424 million worldwide in 2020 before the pandemic. Personally, I'm not interested in Bad Boys, but it certainly counts as experience directing a big studio movie that did very well.

Bumblebee (haven't seen it but it has poor ratings)

Bumblebee has poor ratings by whom exactly? 90% on Rotten Tomatoes makes it by a wide margin the only film in the live-action Transformers franchise to be certified fresh.

I'm not a Transformers fan but I really liked Bumblebee. It may surprise you how good it is as it did me. I am certainly not telling you to see it if you're absolutely not interested. But looking objectively at reviews, I would say it is clear that a majority of them were quite favorable.

Bumblebee | Rotten Tomatoes

On the run in the year 1987, Bumblebee the Autobot seeks refuge in a junkyard in a small California beach town. Charlie, on the brink of turning 18 years old and trying to find her place in the world, soon discovers the battle-scarred and broken Bumblebee. When Charlie revives him, she quickly...

www.rottentomatoes.com

I'll be waiting for reviews...

That is certainly your prerogative. I'm not trying to tell you what to do. But it is worth noting that this is being made as an HBO Max original and not currently intended for theatrical release. So if you have the service, you won't have to pay to watch it. The only thing you'd lose if it's bad is a couple hours of your time.

It's a lazy approach to creating a shared universe.

I don't think they are trying to create a shared universe/multiverse across all of their projects. I can't speak to their plans since I'm not involved, but I think they're fine letting Matt Reeves do his thing with his Batman and letting Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah do their thing with Batgirl. Obviously there are some DC projects that connect (like the CW TV shows and the stuff on the feature side still using Zack Snyder's cast) but it doesn't seem like DC cares about everything being connected like Marvel does. I really like what Marvel does. But if DC can come up with good movies by taking a different approach, that's fine by me.

 

[Bryan^H]

Zoey Deutch
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Of those 4, Zoey Deutch looks the role based on the comics and is pretty much how I picture Barbara Gordon/Batgirl and her hair color/length/style works without resorting to wigs (not that that makes a difference but it is what it is).

Yeah, Zoey Deutch would be an amazing Batgirl. Too bad it wasn't meant to be.

 

[Jake Lipson]

This is a surprise. J.K. Simmons, who played Jim Gordon in Justice League, is in talks to reprise that role for Batgirl. This would make the film an extension of the DCEU started by Zack Snyder, at least in terms of its casting choices.

J.K. Simmons In Talks To Reprise Commissioner Gordon Role In ‘Batgirl’

Oscar winner J.K. Simmons is in negotiations to come back as Commissioner Gordon in Warner Bros' and HBO Max's DC movie Batgirl.

deadline.com

Jeffrey Wright is playing Gordon in The Batman, so this seems to answer definatively that Batgirl is not in that film's continuity.

 

[Sam Favate]

Oh no. No more of the Snyder universe. Let it go.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Oh no. No more of the Snyder universe. Let it go.

To be totally fair to Snyder, he did bring together an impressive group of stars, including Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. I don't like what he did with the characters, but the actors he introduced in his films aren't the problem. He is now working with Netflix, so I don't think the idea is to bring him back. But his cast is a different matter.

 

[Bryan^H]

This is a surprise. J.K. Simmons, who played Jim Gordon in Justice League, is in talks to reprise that role for Batgirl. This would make the film an extension of the DCEU started by Zack Snyder, at least in terms of its casting choices.

J.K. Simmons In Talks To Reprise Commissioner Gordon Role In ‘Batgirl’

Oscar winner J.K. Simmons is in negotiations to come back as Commissioner Gordon in Warner Bros' and HBO Max's DC movie Batgirl.

deadline.com

Jeffrey Wright is playing Gordon in The Batman, so this seems to answer definatively that Batgirl is not in that film's continuity.

In other news Ann Hathaway might reprise her role as Catwoman, and with the permission of the estate of Cesar Romero, his likeness might be used for a CG return of the clown prince of crime himself...The Joker!

Just kidding, but at this point holy shit. It would not surprise me.

The continuity in the Dc universe

 

[Josh Steinberg]

The whole point of the theatrical version of Justice League was for them to wrap up Snyder’s storyline while returning the characters to a more traditional status quo that could then be used as a fresh slate. So it won’t surprise me to see those cast members in other future projects because that was the goal of the reshoots - to let them have the individual puzzle pieces to use again without being tied to a weighty mythology. So id expect it’s possible to see a lot of the supporting cast again but that it won’t be the same story or tone.

 

[ponset]

According to the Glasgow Times BATGIRL will start filming in Glasgow Scotland this coming November.

Glasgow set for MORE Hollywood filming as preparation begins for DC's Batgirl

HOLLYWOOD is set to take over Glasgow once again as pre-production gets underway for the upcoming DC blockbuster movie Batgirl.

www.glasgowtimes.co.uk

One of the directors, Adil El Arbi, posted the cover to the BATGIRL script.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Leslie Grace spoke to Variety about getting the role:

Leslie Grace Hopes Playing Batgirl ‘Validates the Dreams of Other People Who Look Like Me’

Leslie Grace will star as Batgirl in HBO Max's upcoming film based on the iconic superhero.

variety.com

 

[Sam Favate]

I just hope they avoid the whole Joker-crippled-Batgirl storyline. We need movies that are less grim, and that's one of the turning points for the DC universe (in the wrong direction IMO).

 

[Jake Lipson]

I just hope they avoid the whole Joker-crippled-Batgirl storyline.

J.K. Simmons is playing Jim Gordon in this movie, which puts it in continuity with the Zack Snyder films. That means the Joker in this universe would be Jared Leto based on his appearance in the original Suicide Squad. This is just a guess, but I kind of doubt that Leto will be involved in this film.

Also, Natalie Holt has confirmed on Twitter that she will compose the score for Batgirl. She also did the music for Loki.

 

[Sam Favate]

IMO, ties to Zack Snyder and Jared Leto are two strikes against this project.

I've really soured on the DC films and TV shows lately. None of them really present a place I'd want to visit. They all exist in a very bleak atmosphere, where even the heroes constantly suffer and sadistic bad guys seem to be in charge. I see enough of that in real life.

I get that Warner would want to create something that differentiates from what Marvel is doing, but making a universe I don't want to visit isn't the answer.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Zack Snyder is no longer involved with these films. He may be contractually obligated to be credited as producer but the HBO Max release of his version of Justice League, which is not in the continuity of these films, ended his involvement.

The whole point of Warner’s meddling with the 2017 Justice League release was to wind down Snyder’s involvement and to wrap up all of the in-progress storylines. JK Simmons is Gordon in that film, therefore, it makes sense to continue using him. But you will almost certainly see either extremely limited or no direct references to the Snyder films, and definitely not the Snyder Cut of Justice League.

Warner got the message loud and clear that the general public wants brighter, more colorful, less doom and gloom versions of their franchises. They are also giving their filmmakers more freedom to set the tone of their own projects.

Look at WW84 - like it or not, it’s not beholden to Snyder’s vision. Look at Shazam - bright and colorful. Look at Aquaman - it’s fun and not beholden to Snyder. Look at The Suicide Squad - no practical relationship to the earlier film or Snyder.

This is what’s called a soft reboot. They’re not throwing away the theatrical versions of the older Snyder films but they’ve moved beyond them.

 

[AshJW]

JK Simmons is reason enough to keep him as Gordon. It’s irrelevant who’s playing Joker

 

[Keith Cobby]

IMO, ties to Zack Snyder and Jared Leto are two strikes against this project.

I've really soured on the DC films and TV shows lately. None of them really present a place I'd want to visit. They all exist in a very bleak atmosphere, where even the heroes constantly suffer and sadistic bad guys seem to be in charge. I see enough of that in real life.

I get that Warner would want to create something that differentiates from what Marvel is doing, but making a universe I don't want to visit isn't the answer.

Still got The Batman to look forward to!

 

[Sam Favate]

Still got The Batman to look forward to!

As much as I like Matt Reeves, that remains to be seen.

Advance word describing the film as “a horror movie” is very troubling.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

A child witnesses the brutal and senseless murder of his parents. He grows up in a city where criminals dress as freaks and commit horrific violence against its citizenry, which the police are too corrupt to stop. When the child becomes a man, he dresses as a frightening creature to strike back against those criminals, stalking them in the night.

Those could very easily be considered horror elements and they’re baked right into the character’s general biography.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Advance word describing the film as “a horror movie” is very troubling.

Those could very easily be considered horror elements and they’re baked right into the character’s general biography.

You're not wrong. And I don't want to speak for @Sam Favate so I'll speak for myself. While a Batman horror movie is a legitimate approach that a director could pursue, it is not something that sounds appealing to me personally. I suspect that is what Sam might be getting at here.

As for Batgirl, I have no problem whatsoever with J.K. Simmons being Gordon in it because J.K. Simmons is a great actor. I didn't see either version of Justice League so won't be carrying that baggage into this film.

Similarly, Leslie Grace is a great actress and I look forward to seeing her in the role of Batgirl. I think that her performance was one of the best parts of In the Heights. But it was noticeable to me that they are going with Simmons to play Grace's father because they look nothing like each other. The best actor for the role should get it. But since Grace is a person of color, and Simmons is not a person of color, it is an interesting choice to present them as father and daughter.

Perhaps they will present her as being adopted. Or if Simmons is her biological father, perhaps her mother is a person of color and she just looks more like her mom. There are multiple ways to go with that, any of which which would be fine.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I seriously doubt that Warner is going to take the most popular superhero they have and make a film that’s inaccessible to a general audience. After the underperformance of Snyder’s take on the character, they’ll almost certainly be looking for something that will please an audience. Matt Reeves has a great track record at taking existing material and making it seem new and relevant without fundamentally altering what made that material beloved in the first place.

This seems to me similar to how Kevin Feige described Doctor Strange 2 as being horror inspired - it may have horror elements but it will ultimately fit in with every other MCU film. I imagine that The Batman will be constructed to meet audience expectations in a similar fashion.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Matt Reeves has a great track record at taking existing material and making it seem new and relevant without fundamentally altering what made that material beloved in the first place.

I agree with that and I look forward to seeing his film. If it did end up being total horror, I would probably not like it. But right now I have no particular reason to bet against Reeves making something I'm going to like. I think he did a great job with both of his Planet of the Apes films.

This seems to me similar to how Kevin Feige described Doctor Strange 2 as being horror inspired - it may have horror elements but it will ultimately fit in with every other MCU film. I imagine that The Batman will be constructed to meet audience expectations in a similar fashion.

Part of the reason that I am concerned about horror elements (for both Batman and Doctor Strange) is because I don't do well with horror films in general. I have a severe startle reflex as a result of my disability and I hate sudden loud noises/jump scares, which are literally painful for me. Usually, for a typical Marvel movie there might be one or two of those which I deal with, but if they go full horror and start using jump scares throughout, that would be an unpleasant experience for me. I'm not saying the filmmakers can't do that or that they shouldn't make the movie that they want to make. I'm just saying that I would not be physically comfortable and therefore would not enjoy a jump-scare-filled horror movie. They're just not my thing.

At this point in time, I have no reason to believe that I should not see both of these. If it comes out later that they are full on horror, I would reevaluate. But I certainly expect to see them and hope to like them.