Batgirl Director Doubles Down On Brendan Fraser’s Oscar-Worthy Performance

When Adil El Arbi was asked by Yahoo! News whether «Batgirl» would have been a hit, he couldn’t commit to an answer. After all, the success of «Batgirl» wasn’t going to be measured by box office dollars since it was a streaming title, but rather metrics based on its number of viewing hours and increase in HBO Max subscriptions associated with the film’s release. «It’s tough to say — the movie didn’t have a high budget, and I think that that’s a big part of it,» El Arbi said, referring to the film’s reported $90 million price tag. «We had to keep the budget low, so it was a very grounded story. But the fact that the budget wasn’t that high already would have helped it be a success.»

The film was also created as a reflection of how both Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan directed their respective «Batman» films. «It was really a blend between Nolan and Burton, Gotham City was a more realistic world, and the story was very straightforward and emotional,» El Arbi told Yahoo!. «It was more of an actor’s movie without a lot of visual effects. We don’t really like CGI, so we used a lot of miniatures.»

One scene, the director noted, was especially reminiscent Burton’s «Batman.» «There was this one great action sequence where a truck crashed into a tunnel and we did it with miniatures like Burton did in ‘Batman,’» El Arbi said. «It remains the coolest thing we’ve ever done in movies — it was old school filmmaking, and we’ll do it again!»