After an extensive search, Warner Bros. has found its Batgirl. In The Heights star Leslie Grace will portray Barbara Gordon and her superhero alter-ego Batgirl in the upcoming HBO Max film. Grace won the coveted lead role after testing opposite Isabella Merced, Zoey Deutch and Leslie Grace.
Bad Boys for Life filmmaking duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are directing the project while Birds of Prey and upcoming The Flash screenwriter Christina Hodson will pen the script.
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Details on the film are being kept under wraps but this Batgirl will center around Barbara Gordon being the person behind the cape. Gordon was first introduced in 1961 as Betty Kane and is the daughter of Gotham City Police Commissioner Jim Gordon. Since then, she has become one of the most popular superheroines in the world. When Barbara Gordon was paralyzed by a gunshot from the Joker in the classic graphic novel “The Killing Joke,” other crimefighters, like The Huntress and Orphan, took up the Batgirl name while Barbara became Oracle, a tech-savvy aide to Batman. Barbara later returned to the Batgirl role, while her assault in “The Killing Joke” was retconned.
The role of police commissioner Jim Gordon, who has not yet been cast in this movie. Gordon last appeared in a DC Comics movie as played by J.K. Simmons in Justice League and is being played by Jeffrey Wright in the upcoming The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson.
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Leslie Grace had her breakout role as Nina Rosario in Jon M. Chu’s film adaptation of “In the Heights,” based on Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning musical.
There’s no word yet on when Batgirl will be released.