Michael Keaton Reveals Shocking Stance on Scrapped Warner Bros. ‘Batgirl’ Movie: “I didn’t care one way or another”

Plenty of DC adaptations majorly disappointed in recent times, and some planned projects never got the opportunity to disappoint them since they were allegedly too bad to release. We are of course talking about the planned ‘Batgirl’ movie. Now the dust has somewhat settled on that one, but back in the day when the topic was hot, it caused quite a stir in the community.

If you’re not aware that there was ever a Batgirl-focused movie was ever in development, we have you covered!

In May 2016, Batgirl was considered for a role in the female-focused ‘Birds of Prey’ (2020) but was excluded to focus on a solo project. Joss Whedon was hired to write, direct, and produce the solo film but left in 2018 due to a lack of story ideas and concerns over a male director leading a female-focused film.

Christina Hodson was hired in April 2018 to write a new script for the movie, but somewhere down the line, it was decided that the film would aim for an exclusive release on HBO Max as part of DC Films’ new strategy. In April 2021, it was confirmed as an HBO Max original with Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah directing, and Kristin Burr producing, aiming to show a different side of Gotham City.

The movie was almost done with post-production when it was announced that it’s been canceled and won’t ever be released. The film repeatedly did not align with CEO David Zaslav’s vision for “big theatrical event films.” It was one of the most expensive canceled projects ever having a reported budget of $90M. Early reports suggested that the movie was too bad to be released, until eventually, the general consensus was that it was used as a tax write-off. Last year, new co-CEO of DC Studios Peter Safran explained that the movie was so bad, that it would only damage the DC brand had it ever been released.

What does Michael Keaton have to do with everything? Well, Keaton was supposed to reprise his role as Batman in the movie. Keaton recently spoke to GQ and was asked whether he was disappointed by the ultimate fate of the movie, the actor was honest, shockingly honest:

No, I didn’t care one way or another. Big, fun, nice check. […] I like those boys. They’re nice guys. [Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah] I pull for them. I want them to succeed, and I think they felt very badly, and that made me feel bad. Me? I’m good.

Keaton would eventually reprise his role as Batman in 2023 ‘The Flash.’ The movie flopped but fans generally liked seeing Keaton back in the role.

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