Brendan Fraser Called Out The "Batgirl" Cancellation For Hurting Representation, And He's Absolutely Right

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"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.'"

Brendan Fraser recently revealed how the nearly completed Batgirl, which Warner Bros. shelved, wasn't just a disappointment but a signal of something more nefarious.

In the unreleased DC superhero movie, Brendan played the villain Firefly opposite Leslie Grace as Batgirl.

In a Nov. 19 interview with the Associated Press, the Academy Award-winner was candid about the huge loss of not having a Batgirl movie — not only for the creatives behind the project, but also for the audiences it would have represented.

The Mummy actor shared his thoughts on what Batgirl's cancellation said about Hollywood as a whole. "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," Brendan said. "I mean, with respect, we could blight itself."

Batgirl was set to be the next installment in the DC Extended Universe, but while the film was in post-production, Warner Bros. announced it would not be releasing the movie due to cost-saving measures.

Despite being a full production, not a single frame of the movie was ever seen. "A whole movie," Brendan said. "I mean, there were four floors of production in Glasgow. I was sneaking into the art department just to geek out."

Beyond the business of Hollywood, Brendan expressed how audiences were robbed of the cultural impact. "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.'"

Now, with Warner Bros. Discovery and DCEU being revamped into the DC Studios under James Gunn and Peter Safran, it's even less likely that Batgirl will ever be released.

Before 2023's The Flash, which cost twice as much as Batgirl and featured Ezra Miller as the star, the canceled Batgirl movie would've marked the return of Michael Keaton as well. Now, fans of the '89–'92 Caped Crusader will have to do without. "I mean, Michael Keaton came back as Batman. The Batman!" Brendan gushed.

I'm with Brendan on this one. It would've been major to see even just a few frames of this movie. Fortunately, we're still getting more Brendan since he's reprising his role as Rick O'Connell in The Mummy. I can't wait.

Read the full interview here.

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