Brendan Fraser Opens Up About Hollywood’s Unforgivable Decisions
Brendan Fraser shares his candid thoughts on two shelved films, including the scrapped Batgirl, voicing his disappointment with industry choices and their effects on fans.
Brendan Fraser’s return to the spotlight has been one of Hollywood ’s most heartwarming stories in recent years. After spending a long stretch away from the limelight, he’s reclaimed his place in the industry, and audiences couldn’t be happier. Known for his genuine charm and easygoing nature, Fraser has always been a favorite among fans. While his days as the leading man in major blockbusters may be behind him—aside from the much-anticipated The Mummy 4—his Oscar win for Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale proved he’s still at the top of his game. That award was well-earned, and although he hasn’t quite matched that career high since, he’s managed to avoid the so-called ‘Oscars curse.’ Instead, Fraser has kept busy, confident that his time out of the spotlight is a thing of the past.
Unreleased Projects and Lingering Frustration
But even someone as optimistic as Fraser can’t help but feel frustrated by the industry’s decisions. For any actor, having a completed film never see the light of day is tough. For Fraser, it ’s happened twice. The first time was with the animated movie Big Bug Man, which was set to feature Marlon Brando’s final performance. The project was quietly dropped, leaving Fraser to wonder how things could go so wrong. Then came Batgirl, a comic book adaptation directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, where Fraser played the villain Firefly alongside Leslie Grace and Michael Keaton.
Filming wrapped, and the movie was deep into post-production when Warner Bros. abruptly canceled it, citing financial reasons for shelving a costly superhero film.
“The fans really wanted to see this film made,”
Fraser lamented.
“Leslie Grace is a dynamo. The movie was shot and conceived for a smaller screen. In this age that we’ve come out of now between streaming service versus theatrical release, it would up being the canary in the coal mine. What did we learn from this? Work with trusted filmmakers.”
He made these remarks in September 2022, just a month after the studio locked Batgirl away, never to be released.
The Lasting Impact of Studio Choices
Even three years later, Fraser hasn’t moved past the disappointment.
“The tragedy of that is there’s a generation of little girls who don’t have a heroine to go up to and go, ‘She looks like me,’”
he said.
“I mean, Michael Keaton came back as Batman! The Batman!”
Fraser didn’t hold back when criticizing Warner Bros. for their decision, making his feelings crystal clear:
“The product… I’m sorry, ‘content’, is being commodified to the extent that it’s more valuable to burn it down and get the insurance on it than to give it a shot in the marketplace,”
he added.
“I mean, with respect, we could blight itself.”
Unless something major changes, Batgirl will remain locked away, unseen by the public.