'Batgirl' star Leslie Grace reacts to Warner Bros. axing the film: 'Like deflating a balloon'
"Batgirl" star Leslie Grace is speaking out after Warner Bros. canceled the release of her superhero film after it already wrapped filming.
The actress, 28, told Variety in an article published Monday that she didn't find out the news until an article published about it online.
"I found out like the rest of you," she said. "And then my phone just started blowing up."
In August, Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav confirmed that "Batgirl," which was mostly completed and scheduled for release on HBO Max, had been shelved.
"We’re not going to release a movie unless we believe in it. And that’s it," Zaslav said at the time. "Particularly with DC, we think we want to pivot and elevate and focus ... our job is to protect the DC brand."
Here's what Grace had to say about the decision.
How did Leslie Grace react to 'Batgirl' getting axed?
"It was like deflating a balloon," she said. "I was very much just taking it all in, but also so sure of the magic that happened – in my experience and what I saw in my cast, in our team — that I was like, 'This must be some crazy thing that we have no control over.' I tend to be a very optimistic and positive person in these types of circumstances, and I just really leaned on the beauty of the idea that I got to have this experience in my life. Even though I would’ve loved to share that with the rest of the world, nothing can take that experience away from us."
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What does Leslie Grace think of DC Studios head Peter Safran calling the film "not releasable"?
"I had my own meetings with Warner Bros. Film Group CEOs Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca, and they explained to me, on a granular level, what they felt about the project, things that were out of their hands, plans and budgets that were set in place before they were even part of the team," she said.
"There are a lot of things that I learned through the experience about moviemaking that as an actress you have no control over. They weren’t really specific on anything creative in terms of what they felt about the film and how it would’ve hurt DC creatively. But I’m a human being, and people have perceptions and people read things. And when words are expressed very lightly about work that people really dedicated a lot of time to — not just myself but the whole crew — I can understand how it could be frustrating."
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Did 'Batgirl' have any challenges while filming?
"I’m not going to lie to you," Grace said. "In every film, there are obstacles, and our film was nothing short of that. Half of the shoot was night shoots in Scotland, where it never stops raining. So there were obstacles, but at the end of the day, because of the incredible crew, nothing that ever got in the way of us delivering what we knew we wanted to deliver for this film. At least from what I was able to see."
What would Leslie Grace tell young Latinas?
"That your journey is not a mistake," she said. "That everything in your journey can be learned from, can be transformative, can be inspirational and aspirational for someone that you might not even know. I’ve learned that you can make the choice to learn from things and transform it into something that’s positive for you, or you can be down in the dumps, I would say 'Just keep going no matter what the obstacle is. If you have a passion for something, don’t let anything that stands in your way tell you that you aren’t worthy, capable, or have the potential to fulfill what you know you’re capable of doing.' "
Contributing: Anthony Robledo
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Batgirl' star Leslie Grace responds to Warner Bros. axing the film
