The upcoming Batgirl movie is expected to be a pretty big deal when it hits HBO Max in the near future. Not just in the sense that it’s the first cinematic outing for Barbara Gordon since Batman & Robin all the way back in 1997, but also for bringing Michael Keaton back as the Caped Crusader. Sure, we’ve known for a while that he would be back for the role thanks to news surrounding the oft-delayed Flash movie, but there’s still something to be said for seeing him come back as an older Bruce Wayne and potentially taking a protégé under his wing.
While speaking to Variety about the film, star Leslie Grace was asked about the feeling of seeing Keaton back in action, which she described as “wild for everyone.” She was, of course, very vague about what to expect from Keaton in the film, but she called working with him “the stuff of her dreams, I couldn’t even believe that I was sharing space with Batman.” It was also equally surreal for her to work with Brendan Fraser, who plays the film’s villain Firefly. “I’m not supposed to like him, but he’s such a huge teddy bear,” continued Grace. Praising his previous action movie experience thanks to The Mummy franchise, she teased the fight scenes in store: “There’s crazy fire. Crazy stunts, crazy drops. She’s [Batgirl] a biker chick, so you’re going to see her do a bunch of badassery.”
Batgirl is Grace’s second role after last year’s In the Heights, and the sensation of playing a superhero only hit her once she finally donned the costume for the first time. “That was the first real moment where I was like, ‘Oh, wow, we’re here. I’m doing this. Like, I am really Batgirl.’” Being a superhero, she admitted, was rather overwhelming, to the point where she didn’t think to ask previous Batgirl Alicia Silverstone or Gal Gadot for their experiences. She didn’t go in completely blind, though: she reached out to Sasha Calle, the Supergirl of the Flash movie, and Blue Beetle’s Xolo Maridueña. “I’m hoping we get to meet soon, because we’re part of the new gen.”
In Grace’s words, there’s “so much” that happens in the Batgirl movie. ““There’s this love story, there’s this father-daughter relationship. There’s looking at the world through a lens that isn’t just black and white.” With how popular Batman media tends to be, she was naturally asked about the possibility of seeing her Babs again in the future. Even though the DC films are in frequent (if not constant) flux, she did admit that there’s currently discussions about a second Batgirl film. But obviously, nothing concrete yet. “We’ve already been talking about where do we take this from here,” she said. “But we got to see this one first. There’s definitely some talks about what it could be.”
Batgirl will release on HBO Max later this year.
Editor’s Note: Release dates within this article are based in the U.S., but will be updated with local Australian dates as soon as we know more.