'A labor of love': Fil-Am actress Ivory Aquino opens up about cancellation of 'Batgirl'
After Warner Bros. canceled the upcoming Batgirl film, Fil-Am actress Ivory Aquino took to Instagram to speak up about the film getting axed.
Aquino was set to play Alysia Yeoh, Batgirl's best friend and the first transgender character in a DCEU movie. On the other hand, Leslie Grace (In the Heights) played the titular hero.
"Batgirl was truly a labor of love," the trans actress wrote on August 6. "We were excited and eager to share with you all who've championed this inspiring character and our fam of non-traditional, underrepresented peeps having the opportunity to share with the world that ANYONE and EVERYONE can be a superhero."
The superhero flick wrapped up filming in March, but while it was close to completion, Warner Bros. decided on Aug. 3 to no longer release the movie due to cost-cutting measures. It started out with a $75 million budget and was expanded to $90 million.
Adil El Arbi and Bilalall Farllah (Ms. Marvel) directed the movie while Christina Hodson (Birds of Prey) wrote it. Aquino lauded the cast and crew of the film in an Instagram post where she shared photos from the Glasgow set.
"A female-written female-produced film starring an Afro-Latina (angel!) and directed by Muslim Moroccan-Belgian wunderkinds (with a female assistant director) about a female character (as imagined by a female comic book writer) who forges her own path to uplift the lives of those around her including her trans best friend, deserves to be seen & will find a way. There is no price tag on that," she said.
Meanwhile, Grace earlier said that she was "proud of the love, hard work, and intention" of the cast and crew of Batgirl.
"To every Batgirl fan - THANK YOU for the love and belief, allowing me to take on the cape and become, as Babs said best, 'my own damn hero!' #Batgirl for life!" Grace wrote on Aug. 4.
Batgirl also starred Brendan Fraser, Micheal Keaton, Jacob Scipio, and J.K. Simmons.