Joss Whedon Not Following The Norm With Batgirl Movie

Movie theaters have become inundated with films based on comic books, and it seems that movie studios feel that in order to have a huge blockbuster, you have to hire A-list actors.  With the upcoming Batgirl movie, though, it seems that Joss Whedon is going to buck that trend from the start.  Instead of looking for an actor to play Batgirl, and then building the script around her, he's going to work on the character and the script, and then figure out who would be best to play her, no matter who the actor turns out to be.  While he was at a screening for Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2, Whedon was asked by Variety who he wanted to get to play Barbra Gordon in the Batgirl movie.  Here's what he had to say:


"I don’t have my eye on anybody. I feel like I’m creating this character, I’m gonna dialogue with her and then we’ll see who joins that later on… I doubt it will be a name. This is somewhere where you go and find Batgirl and then you cast her.  I’m not against movie stars, they’re great, but you need somebody who’s going to be just right. And a situation like this, the name [Batgirl] carries a lot of weight so its not as critical."


Hearing this must be hard for Warner Brothers to take, because they were probably wanting to have someone like Emma Stone be brought on board.  The thing is, when you have a director like Joss Whedon, you don't need to have an A-list star front and center in the movie.  You know that you are going to see a great movie with an incredible story.  And Whedon's right, the name Batgirl carries a lot of weight with comic book fans who will show up to see it no matter what.