Following her breakout role in this years In The Heights, Leslie Grace has found her new project and boy, is it a big one!
Grace has been cast as Barbara Gordon in the upcoming Batgirl film that will debut on HBO Max. According to Deadline, Warner Bros. were already “super high with star following her breakout role in In the Heights, and sources say her audition sealed the deal as the choice.” In addition to Grace, Isabela Merced (Sweet Girl) and Zoey Deutch (Zombieland: Double Tap) were also testing for the role.
Earlier this year, it was confirmed that Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, the directors behind Bad Boys for Life, had been hired to direct the Batgirl movie. Birds of Prey screenwriter Christina Hodson has written the script, and she has previously teased that she’ll be remaining faithful to the character while also giving fans something new.
There’s a little piece of me in every character I write. They start with me, and then they take on a life of their own. [Barbara Gordon’s] been through so many iterations. There’s certain characteristics of hers that are always there that I’m excited to develop further. Whenever I’m writing a character who’s based on someone who’s existed in a previous form, whether it’s comics or a movie or anything, I always hope to bring something new to them and bring them to life in their own way, even if they fairly iconic like Harley Quinn or Batgirl. I think fans want the original, to be honest, but they also want to see something they haven’t seen before.
