A few weeks ago, I re-tweeted a bit of gossip I read on Twitter regarding the upcoming Batgirl film that made me believe my instincts regarding Hollywood casting were right on the money. The rumor was that 1 of 3 actresses were being sought after for the role of Barbara Gordon (Batgirl): Emma Watson, Riley Keough and Lily Collins. The source was Delve Calzone ( @TriggerTwin ).
Who?
A guy. On Twitter. I don't know him personally, but I like that rumor, particularly the mention of Lily Collins. I can believe that she would be perfect casting, as I've hopefully suggested properly in past Batgirl-related posts on this blog. Aside from the fact that she's the only actress alleged to be in contention whose film resume has gotten better and better over the years, wheras other flavors of the week have hit a slump, what helps sweeten the argument are all these beautiful photos I keep finding of Lily, usually as part of her modeling work for Lancome's cosmetics line. I can picture her playing a character who would NEED to wear a Batsuit to battle criminals. We've already seen Emma Watson in another franchise fighting evil characters without having to wear a mask & cape. Riley Keough would just look like she was cosplaying - sorta like Alicia Silverstone did in Batman And Robin. #LilyCollinsIsBatgirl, ok?
Having written that, I must admit the rumor also includes another big leap in the same tweet, which doesn't sound impossible, but only calls attention to how little we actually know of anything...we know Matt Reeves has submitted his script for The Batman and that it will be set in Batman's early days...
...the next leap in Calzone's rumor is that Barbara Gordon is a character in Matt Reeves' Batman film, which doesn't suggest much about what the Batgirl film will be about, but Reeves might be involved in an advisory capacity, like a co-producer of sorts, until they get a director for it, so there might be some talk of having the films be connected without being prequels or sequels of one or the other. Warner Brothers is interested in a female director - of the names out there, I thought Reed Morano would be cool.
And then there's the costume. There are a lot of different Batgirl costumes. Nowadays, the most-popular Batgirl costumes are Cameron Stewart's "Batgirl of Burnside" design and Jim Lee's "New52" design from Gail Simone was writing Batgirl in 2011-2014. I would suggest the film use both.
