Kevin Smith Questions Warner Bros. Decision To Carry On With Production Of 'The Flash' While Cancelling 'Batgirl'
Since Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke, Batgirl hasn’t had a single bit of peace. A few days ago, a shocking news revelation broke, Warner Bros. Discovery had canceled Batgirl. The film was based on the homonymous character starring Leslie Grace. Even Walter Hamada, President of DC Films was shocked by the news since he wasn’t informed of this risky move. The movie was already in the final stages of production. However, The Flash starring Ezra Miller, is still on track to release sometime this year.
Recently in an episode of the Hollywood Babble-On podcast, Kevin Smith, filmmaker, comic book writer, and “I love DC comics so bad that I named my daughter Harley Quinn Smith”, showed his disappointment and rage with the company’s decision, and current business model, to cancel content in these late stages of development. He was outraged with the “incredible bad look” given by the cancellation of the movie with the “Latin Batgirl”. Leslie Grace, who starred as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, is a Dominican-descendent actress and singer.
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If this decision wasn’t already questioned by everybody in the entertainment business, the growing list of issues surrounding Ezra Miller should surely be enough to cancel The Flash project instead, it seems not. From a commercial standpoint, the film started with a bad reputation and isn’t even released.
Smith compared Ezra Miller’s behavior with one of a real villain, not a hero, while emphasizing the good qualities and love for Batgirl’s cast and crew for the film.
“I don’t give a shit how bad the ‘Batgirl’ movie is, nobody in that movie is complicated or has anything in their real life you have to market around. In ‘The Flash’ movie, we all know there’s a big problem! Flash is the Reverse-Flash in real life.”
Kevin Smith later expressed in a second grandiloquent quote his trust in the directors’ vision, backing up his creative style and talents, as they directed a couple of Ms. Marvel episodes, considered by many the best episodes in the series. He believed the film wasn’t as bad as David Zaslav made out. This is regarding Zaslav’s comments that they won’t release any film they haven’t trusted in the first place and their intentions to bring the Warner Bros. Discovery brand to be a synonym of quality.
Smith responded to any budget excuse, that the film looked cheap for a theatrical release. With a 90-million-dollar budget, like Deadpool’s first live-action film, it would be dumb to expect an Avengers: Endgame type of film. A more personal and grounded story was the wiser option. Batgirl wasn’t the only canceled property. The reasons behind this decision are still unclear, so they will give us a lot to talk about for the next few weeks. This new era for DC entertainment looks as foggy as ever.
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Source: The Hollywood Babble-On, Variety, Rolling Stone.