One of the stars of Warner Bros. scrapped Batgirl film is begging the studio's parent company not to destroy footage from the film amid rumors of secret "funeral screenings" being held on the Warner Bros. lot in advance of the film's unknown destination.
Ivory Aquino—a trans actor who played the trans character Alysia Yeoh in the film in a first for a DC Comics feature—took to Twitter to plead with controversial Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav to choose to archive the film.
Destroying the film's footage is rumored to be a potential outcome for the film rather than archiving it
Aquino posted a lengthy thread about what the film means to her and others who worked on it, seen below.
Batgirl has been at the center of controversy for weeks since Warner Bros. Discovery announced it would be scrapped earlier this month and the company would take a tax write-off on the $90 million production.
The film was still in post-production at the time.
Batgirl is just one of many projects to be canceled in a wave of shake-ups and layoffs since Zaslav's takeover that many believe is an effort to pull back from diverse content and court a more conservative viewership base.
Batgirl certainly fits the bill for the type of projects Zaslav would want to kill if that is indeed the case. The film's diversity and representation have been alternately praised and criticized as "going woke," a charge Aquino dismissed in her thread.
Aquino countered that the film is simply a deeply personal story about a father-daughter relationship that reflects the diverse world in which we live, and a story to which she has a personal connection.
"More than anything, it is a father-daughter story which hits close to home as my Dad passed a year ago, shortly before I booked this project."
"I was hoping it would resonate with other children around the world, grown and not-so-grown, who hold their fathers in the highest esteem and who could see Batgirl as a story of that special bond."She went on to implore Zaslav to release the film, citing the demand for it that has erupted since news of its cancellation broke.Aquino wrote:
"If a month ago, there wasn’t a marketing budget for Batgirl, I’d venture to say that that has been taken care of by the turn of events these past few weeks."
"Now, more people know about our labor of love and are eager to see the movie."
On Twitter, many applauded Aquino for speaking out and lamented the situation Batgirl is facing at the hands of David Zaslav.
Other than the rumored "funeral screenings" on the Warner Bros. lot, Batgirl was given one test screening during post-production—the only time the public has been given a glimpse of the film.
Hopefully it's not the last time.
