The filming of “Batgirl” was literally a punch in the gut for its stars — but the superhero flick’s foregone release hurt worse.
In a new interview, actress Leslie Grace recalled her time working on the scrapped “Batgirl” film — which Warner Bros. axed last summer — and how she shot many action sequences alongside co-star Brendan Fraser.
Fraser, who would have portrayed the villain Firefly in the DC movie, filmed fight scenes with Grace, 28, while she was clad in her latex costume.
The “In the Heights” actress got candid about acting with “The Whale” star, 54, with Collider.
“I truly had one of [the best] experiences with Batgirl,” Grace said.
“In terms of the experience of shooting, we were all so excited for people to see a lot of the action, a lot of the practical shots we did with fire,” she added.
“Batgirl” was helmed by directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah and was also supposed to debut on HBO Max before it was shelved. The movie was set to star Grace as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, as well as Fraser, J.K. Simmons and Michael Keaton — who had been slated to reprise his iconic Batman role.
The cast was reportedly “humiliated” at the $190 million film’s cancellation, after hearing the news only after it hit newsstands.
Grace continued, “Our movie was full of practical fire, which was really hard to shoot. Brendan [Fraser], our villain, our Firefly, he was just so outstanding.”
“I felt so blessed to have him as my sparring partner. We had so many amazing action scenes together where we were beating each other up, but hugging in between takes because he’s just so sweet.”
Grace added, “I would’ve loved people to see those moments, but you know what? You have the experience, and you keep on rolling, and I feel so blessed, all in all, that I have those memories.”
“Hopefully maybe in some future, some clips will arise and people will get to enjoy a little bit of it. But for now, we’ll just have to keep it going as comic folklore, I guess, with all of our memories and our stories while we can,” she said.
While fans won’t ever get to see the film on a small screen, the cast and crew held a funeral screening of it on the Warner Bros. lot so they could watch their hard work come to life at least one time.
“The Mummy” alum addressed the loss of “Batgirl” last October, noting that he spent months filming the picture in Scotland.”
“It’s tragic,” Fraser told Variety at the time. “It doesn’t engender trust among filmmakers and the studio. Leslie Grace was fantastic. She’s a dynamo, just a spot-on performer.”
“Everything that we shot was real and exciting and just the antithesis of doing a straightforward digital all green screen thing,” he said. “It was a big-budget movie, but one that was just stripped down to the essentials.”