JK Simmons isn’t thrilled about the decision to scrap the Batgirl movie.
Speaking on the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast, Simmons reflected on his time as Commissoner Gordon in the DC universe. He technically only played him once, but that wasn’t the initial plan. Zack Snyder had cast Simmons as the mustached cop in Justice League, where he had a small role and, presumably, he also would’ve starred in Ben Affleck’s abandoned Batman film. When that fell by the wayside, he was eventually cast in Batgirl, where Michael Keaton would’ve reprised his role as the Caped Crusader.
The entire film was shot and largely completed, but Warner Bros. scrapped it (along with other projects) in favor of a tax write-off. That tax write-off also meant that the film can never be released. According to Simmons, even he didn’t get to see it.
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“It’s bizarre. Apparently, one test audience saw it, and, you know, it wasn’t like it was like a bad score from the test audience. It was a whatever business decision, obviously. […] When Batgirl came along, it was an exciting prospect to be part of the origin story of Batgirl. “
Simmons was asked if he felt the movie was a misfire when he was making it, but he thought it was promising.
“We really had a good time making it and, you know, thought it was going to be a fun superhero movie,” he said.
Keaton, on the other hand, joked to GQ in 2024 that he didn’t care one way or another because he got paid.
“No, I didn’t care one way or another. Big, fun, nice check,” he joked. “I like those boys. They’re nice guys,” he added about Batgirl’s directing duo, 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.”
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While some reports have suggested that the film’s test screening didn’t go well, it does seem irrational to scrap a movie based on one test screening. There are some truly heinously bad superhero films, including ones from DC itself, so it’s hard to imagine Batgirl being some unsalvagable mess. Maybe it was, but it seems more like it got caught in the crossfire of Warner Bros. trying to salvage its own business in any way it could.
Current DC Studios head Peter Safran stated after its cancellation that the Batgirl film was “not releasable,” which may suggest things were more dire that we could’ve imagined.
“That film was not releasable, and it happens sometimes,” he said. “I actually think that [president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery David] Zaslav and the team made a very bold and courageous decision to cancel it because it would have hurt DC. It would have hurt those people involved.”
Maybe one day, somehow, Batgirl will see the light of day, but it seems extremely unlikely. The directors were locked out of the movie and don’t have access to anything besides pictures and videos they took on set. Although the Snyder Cut also seemed like a longshot, there was a stronger movement behind it and Snyder himself retained access to his cut of the film after he left DC. Not to mention, the DC Universe has been rebooted, so it’s likely that the current regime will just leave Batgirl in the past as to avoid confusing audiences.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN’s news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
