Batgirl Director Doubles Down On Brendan Fraser's Oscar-Worthy Performance

DC's "Batgirl" co-director Adil El Arbi has revealed more details about what fans would have experienced if Warner Bros. Discovery hadn't canceled the film's release on its then-branded HBO Max streaming service. El Arbi and his fellow "Batgirl" co-director Bilall Fallah were shocked to learn in August 2022 that the film starring Leslie Grace in the title role would not see the light of day, despite being nearly completed. In Warner Bros. Discovery's explanation for the cancelation of the film, the studio said, "The decision to not release Batgirl reflects our leadership's strategic shift as it relates to the DC universe and HBO Max."

Of course, since that time other DC films have been released, and in mid-September Adil said seeing "The Flash" left him and his co-director feeling disappointed and sad. Now, El Arbi is revealing more information about "Batgirl," including doubling down on his belief in the film's Oscar potential.

In the film, fans would have experienced seeing Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne-Batman again after "The Flash" — and a what he feels was a powerhouse performance by Brendan Fraser as Batgirl's nemesis, Firefly. "People do love the Bat family: They love Batgirl, they love Gotham City, they love Michael Keaton and Brendan Fraser gave an Oscar-worthy performance in the movie," El Arbi told Yahoo! News. "And the movie was supposed to be for streaming, which allows you freedoms that you don't get in theaters. If it was a theatrical movie, we might have needed to have had bigger action sequences than we had. But we'll never know! Hopefully we can come back to DC and show what we can really do. It's like unfinished business — we've got to prove ourselves one day."

When Adil El Arbi was asked by Yahoo! News whether "Batgirl" would have been a hit, he couldn't commit to an answer. After all, the success of "Batgirl" wasn't going to be measured by box office dollars since it was a streaming title, but rather metrics based on its number of viewing hours and increase in HBO Max subscriptions associated with the film's release. "It's tough to say — the movie didn't have a high budget, and I think that that's a big part of it," El Arbi said, referring to the film's reported $90 million price tag. "We had to keep the budget low, so it was a very grounded story. But the fact that the budget wasn't that high already would have helped it be a success."

The film was also created as a reflection of how both Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan directed their respective "Batman" films. "It was really a blend between Nolan and Burton, Gotham City was a more realistic world, and the story was very straightforward and emotional," El Arbi told Yahoo!. "It was more of an actor's movie without a lot of visual effects. We don't really like CGI, so we used a lot of miniatures."

One scene, the director noted, was especially reminiscent Burton's "Batman." "There was this one great action sequence where a truck crashed into a tunnel and we did it with miniatures like Burton did in 'Batman,'" El Arbi said. "It remains the coolest thing we've ever done in movies — it was old school filmmaking, and we'll do it again!"