Warner Bros. continues to find itself under a microscope thanks to the Batgirl drama. We previously reported that the mega-studio decided to indefinitely shelve the $90 million film without notice, causing a firestorm of backlash from both fans and industry professionals. Batgirl star Leslie Grace received support from her peers and those who looked forward to seeing the film etched in the DC Extended Universe. Now, more information is being shared about the controversy and the news is coming straight from directors Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi.
According to The Direct, the two Batgirl directors claimed that they attempted to recover at least some of the footage from the film but when they checked the Warner Bros. server, "everything was gone."
"No, we have nothing. Adil called and told me, 'Go ahead! Shoot everything on your phone!' I went on the server... Everything was gone," said Fallah. The scenes with Michael Keaton as Batman were also reportedly taken out. "We were [like]... 'F*cking sh*t!'... We did not [even] keep [the scenes] with Batman in it."
"The guys from Warner Bros. told us it was not a talent problem on our part or the actress [Leslie Grace], or even the quality of the movie. We were right in the middle of editing. There was a lot of work to get done, so it was not like the movie was finished! Warner Bros. told us the cancellation was a strategic change, a shifting in management so they could save some bucks."
Despite the setback, both directors admitted that they were overtaken by the kindness of the public following the unfortunate news about the film being scrapped.
"I was like, 'It's not happening.' But seeing all this support on the Internet, like Twitter," said Fallah. "And even big directors like Edgar Wright and James Gunn sent us supportive messages. It was very heartwarming."
[via]