Back in July we learnt that In The Heights breakout star Leslie Grace will be taking on the role of Barbara Gordon in HBO Max’s Batgirl. Now, in a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, Grace has opened up about her casting.
On her casting, Grace said “Oh, man! It was a crazy shock. I mean, obviously I had been auditioning. It was a whole process, you know? But it was just, like, mind-bending. It’s still mind-bending to think about it, and we’re about to embark on this insane journey. But I found out via Zoom, because COVID world. The directors and the studio were on, and they kind of try to make it a surprise. They tried to make it like I was doing a final test, and then they sent me an email saying, “I’m Batgirl” and had me read it. And I was just like, “I’m not reading that! I don’t know what’s happening right now!”
It seems that through her research Grace has found a number of similarities between herself and Barbara:
“She’s someone who’s been underestimated by even her own dad and being the youngest kid, sometimes you’re insulated from all of the tough stuff of life and she’s so eager to prove to herself and to everybody else that there’s some things that she can handle. So, this journey is definitely going to show me a lot of that. I feel like I’m on an endless journey of proving to myself what barriers I can break, what limits I can break for myself and I’m excited to put a little bit of that eagerness and drive and, like, almost a bit of stubbornness into Barbara’s character.”
During the interview Grace confirmed that Batman won’t be a part of the movie. But she did offer up her excitement to meet another major character from the DC Films universe…
“… if at any point Batgirl comes through and Miss Harley Quinn drops by Gotham and have some business to handle, it might be cool!
Batgirl will be directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah from a script by Christina Hodson. Kristin Burr is producing.
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