In the few days since Joss Whedon stepped away from writing and directing the proposed BATGIRL movie for Warner Bros., a public Twitter conversation may have led to a successor.
Warner’s track record with the movie universe for DC Comics characters hasn’t been all that stellar lately. The studio has gone through a number of directors for the upcoming FLASH film (when they have a perfectly good TV show about the character); Ben Affleck has been vacillating about whether he’ll continue as Batman; and in general, no one knows the direction the studio wants to take with the universe, or if they want to have one at all.
Last week, the latest shoe dropped – Joss Whedon stepped aside as the writer and director of BATGIRL because he couldn’t come up with a story for a feature film starring Barbara Gordon’s alter-ego.
Not surprisingly, Twitter lit up with discussion and offers to write the film. But one tweet especially caught the interest of the internet at large, from writer Roxane Gay:
https://twitter.com/rgay/status/966777775402008576
When the best-selling author sent the tweet out, it joined a number of other similar offers to write the film, or suggestions of others who could write or direct a future Batgirl movie. Former Batgirl writer Gail Simone, in particular, has mentioned that she has the “perfect” story for a Batgirl movie.
Huh.
I actually thought of the perfect story for a Batgirl movie.
— Gail Simone 💙💛 (@GailSimone) February 24, 2018
And the current writers of Batgirl and the Birds of Prey – which was recently announced as having its final issue in May – also threw their hats in the ring.
I think we might have a few Batgirl stories in us… https://t.co/zs86dawFQ3
— Julie Benson (@TheJulieBenson) February 23, 2018
So, Gay’s tweet probably would have been lost in a sea of conversation about what happened with Whedon and what his stepping down means for the film’s future. But then Gay got a very interesting response.
If you're serious…contact me. michele.wells@dcentertainment.com
— Michele Wells (@michelewells) February 22, 2018
For those who don’t know, Wells is vice president of Warners Entertainment, including the DC Comics movie universe. And while I assume she’ll regret posting her email address in a very public tweet, you have to admire the strategy here. Given all the tumult with the DC Comics film slate, Wells’ response shows the studio is willing to look anywhere and everywhere for potential partners. Even if a Batgirl movie doesn’t work out – and the likelihood is that it won’t in the current iteration of the DC Extended Universe – there’s potential to bring Gay on board for something else.
And of course, we now know we should be watching Twitter for the start of high-level proposals for upcoming films. Hopefully, someone will pick up on my ideas for a Superman movie soon!