Prior to Leslie Grace securing the role as Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl, multiple young actresses were up for the role. One of them was Haley Lu Richardson, who has starred in titles such as Five Feet Apart and Split. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the young actress was the runner-up behind Grace for the role of Batgirl, but Richardson seems content with how things ultimately went down.
While promoting her latest film, After Yang, Richardson revealed that she received a note from J.K. Simmons after it was revealed she hadn’t gotten the role – something she feels made the whole thing worth it.
“It was exciting regardless, and I did get a nice little personal email from J.K. Simmons out of it, which was really nice. Getting the role would’ve been pretty cool, but I told myself that his email meant more to me than getting the role. So I tried, but I’m not Batgirl at the end of the day. I’m trying to think of what freaking superhero I can play now because aren’t they all done already? My dance skills, my flexibility and my athleticism need to be utilized.”
Although she didn’t get the role of Batgirl, Richardson is more than ready for Hollywood to cast her as a superhero. As she explains, she has dance skills, is flexible and is athletic. With her being a final contender, it seems likely she’ll eventually land her superhero role. After all, as we’ve seen in the past, Hollywood tends to revisit talent when it comes to casting new roles.
Batgirl, starring Leslie Grace, is now in production and is set to be an HBO Max exclusive film. No release date has been announced.
Source: THR.
