Haley Lu Richardson and Leslie Grace are the top two contenders testing this week to star as crime fighter Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl in the upcoming film set up at HBO Max, according to an individual with knowledge of the project.
“Bad Boys for Life” filmmaking duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are set to direct “Batgirl” for HBO Max.
“Birds of Prey” screenwriter Christina Hodson, who wrote “The Flash” for DC, will write the “Batgirl” script.
Batgirl made her debut in the Batman mythos 50 years ago as Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Gotham City Police Commissioner Jim Gordon. Since then she has become one of the most popular superheroines in the world. When Barbara Gordon was paralyzed by a gunshot from the Joker in the classic graphic novel “The Killing Joke,” other crimefighters, like The Huntress and Orphan, took up the Batgirl name while Barbara became Oracle, a tech-savvy aide to Batman. Barbara later returned to the Batgirl role, while her assault in “The Killing Joke” was retconned.
Richardson broke out in 2017’s “Columbus” and garnered critical praise for her roles as Maci in 2018’s “Support the Girls” and Stella Grant in 2019’s “Five Feet Apart.” Grace most recently starred in “In the Heights.”