Micheal Keaton was too torn up over Warner Bros. Discovery’s infamous — and wildly unpopular — decision to basically delete its nearly-finished “Batgirl” film.
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The DC film, which had been intended for HBO Max, was shelved by WBD in August 2022 for tax-break purposes. Keaton first reprised his role of Batman for the $90-million movie, which was co-directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah and starred Leslie Grace as the titular superhero. We’ll never see that return to the cowl and cape, but we got plenty of Keaton-back-as-Batman in 2023’s “The Flash.” Brendan Fraser and J.K. Simmons were also part of the “Batgirl” cast.
Now, Keaton tells GQ that he “didn’t care” that “Batgirl” was shelved.
“No, I didn’t care one way or another. Big, fun, nice check,” Keaton said.
However, he added of co-directors El Arbi and Fallah, “I like those boys. They’re nice guys. I pull for them. I want them to succeed, and I think they felt very badly, and that made me feel bad.”
Yet Keaton was unfazed by the decision.
“Me?” Keaton said, with GQ noting that he shrugged. “I’m good.”
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The actor continued that his “Batman” role isn’t anything different from his other characters, including his upcoming lead part in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” which reunites him with his “Batman” director Tim Burton.
“I’m nothing but only respectful and grateful, 100 percent,” Keaton said of playing the superhero. “And proud of it actually, because I like to prove everybody wrong. It’s fun for me.”
As for “Batgirl,” the film never got the chance to prove anyone wrong amid rumors of poor test screenings. DC Studios co-head Peter Safran said that “Batgirl” was “not releasable” and Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav made a “ courageous decision ” to defund it.
“It would’ve hurt DC, it would’ve hurt those people involved,” Safran said in January 2023. “I think they really stood up to support DC, the characters, the story, the quality and all that.”
But “Batgirl” star Grace told Variety that the film “wasn’t complete by the time that it was tested” and later became an “incredible” feature. At the time, she still hoped a version of “Batgirl” would be released, or at least given another shot onscreen in a standalone film for the character.
“We’ve definitely had conversations about Batgirl’s future and how Batgirl can make a resurgence ,” Grace said. “I think fans are looking forward to seeing that. We’ll just see where that takes us; I can’t say one way or the other if that is a reality at this point. I can’t speak too much about a future for Bat- girl or guarantee anything. The last thing that I would want to do is give folks any kind of inkling of something that I have not much control over — as we’ve learned.”
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