Filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah made headlines earlier this year when Warner Bros. Discovery and the team behind DC Studios canned their Batgirl film after it was already filmed and in post-production.
It was reported that the execs felt Batgirl was too poor of a film to be released and could hurt the overall DC brand. Then, DC released The Flash earlier this summer, which was met with mixed reactions and made $268.5 million worldwide from a $200 million budget.
That type of dud has hurt many hardcore fans’ faith in the brand, which is precisely what was feared about Batgirl. Now, the duo known as Adil & Bilall is opening up about it all.
Bilall calls the film’s shelving the “biggest disappointment of our careers” in a recent interview with Insider promoting their Syrian war drama Rebel.
Adil tells Insider, “We watched it, and we were sad. We love director Andy Muschietti and his sister Barbara, who produced the movie. But when we watched it, we felt we could have been part of the whole thing.
“We didn’t get the chance to show Batgirl to the world and let the audience judge for themselves,” he adds. “Because the audience really is our ultimate boss and should be the deciders of if something is good or bad, or if something should be seen or not.
When compared to The Flash, Adil also notes their film was closer in tone to the original DC movies. He recalls, “Our movie was very different than The Flash. That has a big fantasy component; ours was more grounded. More like Tim Burton’s Gotham City.”
When asked if they’d return, Adil notes, “Our love for DC, Batman, Batgirl, Gotham City, it’s so big that, as fans, we could never say no to another project. If we got another chance to be part of it, we’d do it. We didn’t get our day in court. We still want to make our case.”
Batgirl was directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, with Leslie Grace, Michael Keaton, J.K. Simmons, and Brendan Fraser featuring in the cast.
