Batgirl directors reveal they have no footage of shelved film after studio blocked access

Batgirl directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah tried to salvage footage of their shelved superhero film, but Warner Bros.' servers foiled their plan.

The filmmakers addressed the studio's decision to axe the film while in post-production in a new interview with the French outlet SKRIPT, sharing that they were in the middle of the editing process when they got word of the development. "The guys from Warners told us it was not a talent problem from our part or the actress, or even the quality of the movie," El Arbi said. "They told us it was a strategic change. There was new management, and they wanted to save some money."

During the studio's second quarter earnings call earlier this month, CEO David Zaslav insinuated that the shelving had to do with quality when asked directly about why Batgirl got the axe. "We're not going to launch a movie until it's ready," Zaslav said. "We're not going to launch a movie to make a quarter and we're not going to put a movie out unless we believe in it." Pointing to other superhero properties like Black Adam, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and The Flash, Zaslav said DC remains at the "top of the list" for the studio.

El Arbi and Fallah also revealed they have no footage of their work due to those pesky blocked servers. "We have nothing," Fallah said. "Adil called me and said, 'Go ahead shoot some things on your cellphone.' I went on the server and everything was blocked." El Arbi added, "We were like 'f---ing s---! All the scenes with Batman in them! S---!" (In what could have been, El Arbi teased the return of Michael Keaton as Batman earlier this month.)

The film "cannot be released its current state," El Arbi said. "There's no VFX. We still had to shoot some scenes. So if [Warner Bros.] wanted us to release the Batgirl movie they would need to give us the means to do it, to finish it properly with our vision."

Reps for Warner Bros. didn't immediately respond to EW's request for comment Tuesday.

Fallah said they were touched by public reaction to the film's shelving, adding of the trending #ReleaseBatgirl hashtag, "Seeing all the support on Twitter, and even from big directors Edgar Wright and James Gunn, who sent us supportive messages, it was comforting." El Arbi added, "After all we make movies for the audience, not for us. We just hope that one day the movie will be released, for the cast and crew. We are a small family."

Release the El Arbi and Fallah cut!

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