‘Baffling’: Director Kevin Smith slams Warner Bros axing Batgirl but still releasing The Flash

Cult film director Kevin Smith has slammed Warner Bros over the “baffling” decision to scrap Batgirl but still release The Flash amid star Ezra Miller’s multiple arrests.

Director Kevin Smith has slammed Warner Bros for its decision to axe the upcoming comic book film Batgirl.

The cult filmmaker criticised the cancellation during the latest episode of his YouTube series, Hollywood Babble-On.

“It’s an incredibly bad look to cancel the Latina Batgirl movie,” the 52-year-old said.

“I don’t give a sh*t if the movie was absolute f***ing dogs**t. I guarantee you that it wasn’t.

“The two directors [Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi] who directed that movie did a couple of episodes of Ms Marvel, and it was a wonderful f***ing show.

“They had more money to do Batgirl than they had to do an episode of Ms Marvel and stuff.”

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Warner Bros ‘shelved’ the upcoming comic book film Batgirl, reportedly after poor test screenings. Picture: DC Films

Initial reports suggested the film’s quality was so bad that it had been declared “irredeemable”.

Some reports also stated that since the film was a made-for-TV movie it looked “too cheap” to release in theatres.

But the Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back star said he was sceptical of the rumour.

“They said Batgirl looked too cheap because it was a $90 million movie,” he said.

“How do you make a cheap-looking $90 million movie?

“If it looked slightly better than an episode of Arrow then why couldn’t we see that?”

Director Kevin Smith has slammed Warner Bros for its decision to shelve Batgirl. Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images/AFP

Smith went on to call the decision “baffling”, while he and co-host Ralph Garman questioned why the studio was still going ahead with The Flash, which stars controversial actor Ezra Miller.

The Fantastic Beasts star has been embroiled in multiple scandals in the past few months.

The 29-year-old, who uses they/them pronouns, was most recently charged with felony burglary in Vermont, US, over an incident at a residence on May 1 where bottles of alcohol were allegedly stolen while the homeowners weren’t home. The actor is due for arraignment on September 26.

In June, Miller was also accused by the parents of an 18-year-old of allegedly grooming their child with “cult-like” and “psychologically manipulative” behaviours, though the teen denied the accusations against the actor.

On top of that, Miller was arrested multiple times in Hawaii – first for disorderly conduct and harassment and then for second-degree assault – in March and April, respectively.

Miller also landed in hot water in 2020 after a video surfaced that appeared to show them choking a fan at a bar in Reykjavik, Iceland.

“That is the baffling thing,” Smith said.

“I don’t give a sh*t how bad the Batgirl movie is, nobody in that movie is complicated or has anything in their real life you have to market around.

“In The Flash movie, we all know there’s a big problem! Flash is the Reverse-Flash in real life.”

Ezra Miller was arrested for disorderly conduct earlier this year. Picture: Getty Images

The actor, who is non-binary, portrays DC’s The Flash. Picture: Supplied

Last week, a Hollywood insider divulged that the Batgirl cast were blindsided by Warner Bros’ decision to cancel the movie.

“They had no idea the movie was being shelved,” a film industry source told the New York Post.

“That’s a giant problem.”

The insider added that the actors had told their teams that the situation had been “humiliating” and “disappointing” as they found out about the news in the media alongside fans.

– with the New York Post