"We could blight itself": Brendan Fraser shares his take on Batgirl's cancellation

When it comes to Batgirl's cancellation, actor Brendan Fraser is not mincing his words, as he spoke to the Associated Press on November 20.

The DC superhero centering Barbara Gordon a.k.a. Batgirl did not make it into a release, even after the filming was completed. Helmed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, we could witness Leslie Grace as the superhero, with Brendan Fraser joining as the fire-obsessed psychopathic villain Ted Carson a.k.a. Firefly.

However, in 2022, Warner Bros. arrived at the shattering decision of cancelling the film because it was not aligned with the studio's schemes for DC films. In the interview, Fraser addresses the cancellation of the film by stating:

"I mean, with respect, we could blight itself."

Keep reading to find out more about what Brendan Fraser says about the termination of Batgirl.

Brendan Fraser responds sharply to the cancellation of Batgirl

Initially, Batgirl was planned to make a streaming release on HBO Max. But Warner Bros, which serves as the holding company of the streaming platform, and DC Studios, barred the film's release because more capital would have been needed to release the film, as there was still some work left.

After Warner Bros. and Discovery became one, they realized that by not releasing the film, they could save more money. In that way, it enabled them easily to re-frame it as a tax loss. The DC superhero film was made with an approximate budget of a whopping $90 million.

Evidently, the cancellation triggered many reactions from people, as they strongly feel that art and artistic labor should not be sacrificed at the altar of commercial demands.

While speaking to the Associated Press, Brendan Fraser addressed in detail about the termination of Batgirl. In his statement, he not only addressed the impact that it had artistically, but also socially. The Oscar-winning actor was evidently involved far more than an actor in the film's process, as he meticulously observed the gruelling behind-the-scenes work.

The Mummy star also mentioned how this was a big missed opportunity for the audience to witness a meaningful representation of a superhero. Leslie Grace, an Afro-Latina actor embodying the role of Batgirl, would have been such a huge inspiration for the young audience in terms of representation.

The actor also made a stark critique of how the industry tends to reduce art into mere content, and how this commercialization is detrimental for people as well as creative processes.

Here's the complete statement of Fraser:

"A whole movie. I mean, there were four floors of production in Glasgow. I was sneaking into the art department just to geek out. The tragedy of that is that there’s a generation of little girls who don’t have a heroine to look up to and go, “She looks like me.” I mean, Michael Keaton came back as Batman. The Batman! The product — I’m sorry, “content” — is being commodified to the extent that it’s more valuable to burn it down and get the insurance on it than to give it a shot in the marketplace. I mean, with respect, we could blight itself."

It is indeed heartbreaking that we, as the audience, were denied the experience of witnessing Batgirl in the theaters. Most importantly, the fact that the blood, sweat, and tears of the whole team went in vain is more unfortunate and painful to witness.

The practice of shelving projects is unfortunately a part-and-parcel in the industry, so it is high time for big studios to come up with better and sustainable business models and financial plans where art is fairly recognized, rather than erased or compromised.