Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah were the directors behind Batgirl, the DC film at Warner Bros. with Leslie Grace in the titled role. The superhero movie would end up being axed by the studio and with the release of The Flash earlier this year, the filmmakers are reflecting on their film.
“We watched it and we were sad,” Adil said of The Flash in an interview with Insider. “We love director Andy Muschietti and his sister Barbara, who produced the movie. But when we watched it, we felt we could have been part of the whole thing.”
Adil continued, “We didn’t get the chance to show ‘Batgirl’ to the world and let the audience judge for themselves. Because the audience really is our ultimate boss and should be the deciders of if something is good or bad, or if something should be seen or not.”
Adil noted that the film he worked on “was very different than The Flash” in that the movie that starred Ezra Miller “has a big fantasy component” and Batgirl “was more grounded. More like Tim Burton’s Gotham City.”
Before being canceled, the filmmaking duo were told that Batgirl would have likely been scheduled after the release of The Flash. One thing that they are disappointed by is that they were not able to see Michael Keaton reprise his role of Batman in their version.
“I felt like a kid on set working with Keaton,” Bilall said. “I totally forgot that I was directing.”
Adil added, “It’s the biggest disappointment of our careers. As a fanboy, just to be in the presence of Keaton as Batman, that’s just a privilege and an honor. But it’s a bittersweet feeling.”
Despite everything that went on, they have no ill will towards Warner Bros. and would like to make a DC film as “there’s still a feeling of unfinished business.”
