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DC taps Leslie Grace to play Batgirl in film, fans call it 'another race swapping movie'

The film will release on HBO Max, making it one of the first major DC movies to be released exclusively on the streaming platform

Warner Bros and DC Films took auditions of several actresses earlier this week for their upcoming project, 'Batgirl'. According to reports, 'In the heights' star, Leslie Grace, 26, has been cast to play the role of Barbara Gordon in 'Batgirl'. Sources say Leslie's audition impressed the studio. The studio, however, has not commented in detail about this development.

The film will release on HBO Max, making it one of the first major DC movies to be released exclusively on the streaming platform. The movie is produced by Kristin Burr. Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah have been roped in to direct the movie from a script by Christina Hodson, who wrote 'Birds of Prey'. While further details about the plot are not available at the moment, it is known that Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Commissioner Gordon, will be the character behind the cape in this version.

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Singer, songwriter and actress Leslie is famously known for starring as Nina Rosario in Jon M Chu's film adaptation of 'In the Heights' (2021) based on Lin-Manuel Miranda's Tony Award-winning musical. Leslie has received three Latin Grammy Award nominations for her work as a singer. 

'Batgirl' made her first appearance in the Batman mythos 50 years ago as Barbara. She is the daughter of Gotham City Police Commissioner Jim Gordon. Batgirl is one of the most popular superheroines in the world. Barbara was paralyzed by a gunshot from the Joker in the classic graphic novel 'The Killing Joke'. Afterward, other crimefighters like The Huntress and Orphan, took up the Batgirl name while Barbara became Oracle, who is a tech-savvy aide to Batman. But later, Barbara returned to the Batgirl role.

'Another white role not being played by a white actress'

Social media's reaction to Leslie being cast as 'Batgirl' was not all that positive. While some had a problem with a 'Black actress playing the role of a White actress' some were just not happy with her performance as an actress. One user tweeted, "I got no problem with Batgirl being black, but she was definitely the worst pick out of the bunch of people that were being tested for the role." Another commented, "Oh look… another white role not being played by a white actress. If this was reversed, black Panther, Luke cage, Falcon, miles Morales being played by a white actor people would hit the roof."

One tweet read, "Bruh, what kills me is that there are so many legendary black super heroes in DC.... Like can we just get a movie or show about one of them and stop switching these roles???" Another user wrote, "Ngl I really disliked the acting from Leslie Grace in In The Heights so I’m hoping she does a better job as batgirl but… my expectations are low." One tweet read, "Congrats to Leslie grace but I don’t understand why they feel to the end to race bend and gender bend characters. If you wanna pander to those communities then just create NEW characters they can identify with. #Batgirl #HBOMax." Another predicted, "Oh look, another race swapping movie about to fail."