Ivory Aquino, who co-stars in the shelved Batgirl film, is speaking out against Warner Bros. and their decision to put the DC movie on hold indefinitely on Twitter.
Aquino, who played the best friend of Barbara Gordon (Leslie Grace), sent out a plea to Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, asking him to rethink the studio’s alleged plan to permanently destroy the movie’s footage after “funeral screenings” on the lot, per Variety.
“As one of many who poured our hearts into the making of this movie, I ask that this measure be reconsidered,” Aquino wrote Wednesday night on Twitter.
“As much as I’ve tried my best to be strong these past few weeks, I’d find myself crying, for lack of a better term, from grief, and tonight was one of those nights.”
A letter to #DavidZaslav @WBD
Dear Mr. Zaslav,
I just read an article @THR about supposed ‘funeral screenings’ of #Batgirl and the possibility afterwards that the film footage would be destroyed.. if this is the case, as one of many who poured our hearts into the making of this
— Ivory Aquino (@MsIvoryAquino) August 25, 2022
The 'Batgirl' actor was responding to a recent The Hollywood Reporter piece that alleged the studio was holding "funeral screenings" before destroying or locking the film up for good.
As the outlet reports, the studio could take the extreme step of actually burning its Batgirl film to prove to the IRS that there would never be any money from the project and that it should thus be entitled to the entire write-down right now–according to the report.
“One seemingly small movement by this large cog may seem relatively tiny, but for those little cogs at the bottom, they can be spinning ten-fold and the effects can be seismic,” Aquino added.
She addressed Zaslav directly, writing: “I can only endeavor to understand how one feels when tasked with tending to the bottom line like you have. I can’t even begin to imagine what one in your position goes through having such great responsibility to attend to. I do know and ask, with something like Batgirl that’s a product of our hearts and souls, that the little cogs not simply be seen as widgets whose fates are determined by an equation to benefit the bottom line. More than widgets, we are fellow human beings and artists who, when given the chance, can outperform the equation and multiply the bottom line exponentially.”
She urged the company to distribute 'Batgirl' to the general public in addition to saving the movie, which has been in the news for weeks.
Aquino also spoke on the diversity and barriers that were broken with the film writing in her letter: “A female-written female-produced film starring an Afro-Latina (angel!) & 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.”
Warner Bros. announced on August 2 that it will cancel the release of Batgirl, a DC movie with a $90 million budget, opting to use the film as a tax write-off. The cancellation of Batgirl, which won’t air on HBO Max or in theaters, was a shock throughout the industry because it is a very rare thing for a studio to ever completely shelve a film.
The movie’s filmmakers, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah expressed their amazement and sadness at the film’s sudden cancellation. A major factor in the decision to terminate the DC offshoot was tax incentives.
