Batgirl star Leslie Grace has promised that there will be a whole lot of badassery from her Barbara Gordon in the upcoming DC movie. 25 years on from the heroine’s last live-action cinematic appearance in Batman & Robin, Jim Gordon’s vigilante daughter is about to return to the screen in her very own vehicle, with In the Heights breakout Grace taking on the iconic role. And fans can apparently expect the film to be an action-packed spectacle when it eventually hits streaming.
In an interview with Variety, Grace opened up about the “incredible learning experience” of making such a physically demanding movie. “She definitely exceeds what I thought. I had to summon up some things in me that I didn’t even know were there,” Grace said when talking about the challenges of bringing Babs to life. She then added, “She’s a biker chick, so you’re going to see her do a bunch of badassery.”
Thankfully, the actress got to work with a veteran of the action genre in The Mummy favorite Brendan Fraser, co-starring as Barbara’s nemesis Firefly, whose expertise helped her raise her game on set and handle all the movie’s “crazy” stunts.
“It was an incredible learning experience to be on set with also action veterans like Brendan Fraser, and soak up it all up. It was so hard because he’s our villain and I’m not supposed to like but he’s such a huge teddy bear,” Grace explained. “He is one of the nicest people that I’ve ever met. In our fight sequences the way he would just hit marks, it came from all of his experience. You can’t improvise that kind of experience. There’s some crazy stuff that happens. There’s lots of fire because as everyone knows by now, he plays Firefly. There’s crazy fire. There’s crazy stunts, crazy drops…”
In the same chat, Grace likewise gushed about her time working with Michael Keaton, who reprises his role as Batman following his big comeback in The Flash movie — even though Batgirl may end up releasing ahead of the Scarlet Speedster’s solo flick. This could be just the start of Grace’s career in the DCEU, too, as the actress also told Variety about how she’s already discussed returning as Miss Gordon in a sequel.
From Bad Boys for Life directors Bilall Fallah and Adil el Arbi, Batgirl sees Grace joined by J.K. Simmons as her on-screen father Commissioner Gordon, with Ivory Aquino, Jacob Scipio, and Ethan Kai in supporting roles. A due date has yet to be given, but we’re expecting to see Leslie Grace make her debut as Gotham City’s latest protector on HBO Max sometime this winter.