Summary
Directorial duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah have reflected on their “painful” decision to step away from helming Beverly Hills Cop 4 in favor of the cancelled Batgirl movie. Featuring the return of Eddie Murphy to the iconic role of the wisecracking Detective Axel Foley, El Arbi and Fallah had originally been attached to the project as far back as 2016. Despite a series of developmental and COVID-19-related delays, the Belgian directors had initially confirmed they were still involved in the project as recently as 2020, though would later choose to depart to work on the now infamously cancelled Batgirl movie.
While speaking with The Messenger, El Arbi and Fallah revealed that they were forced to choose between working on Beverly Hills Cop 4 or the ill-fated Batgirl, ultimately deciding on the latter. Suggesting that them losing the Murphy sequel and then the film responsible for their departure was “pretty painful”, the directors quip that they could almost make a movie about their behind-the-scenes Hollywood dramas. Check out their comments below:
El Arbi: It’s total chaos. It’s like everything that we are connected to is pretty special. Beverly Hills Cop 4, we were going to do it, but then Batgirl came along, and we had to choose. And by choosing Batgirl, we lost Beverly Hills Cop, so it’s pretty painful that we lost Batgirl. But I’m prepared because every time you think, “Oh, I’ve been through the worst,” there’s something else coming up. It’s like the never-ending story.
Fallah: Yeah, you can almost make a movie about all of this. For real, we need to star as ourselves. [Laughs]
El Arbi: We talk to our agent and managers and say, “You know, Belgium movies, everything’s chill, it’s calm, so what’s the drama over there all the time?” So it’s really Hollywood — it’s Hollywood drama.
Why El Arbi and Fallah’s Cancelled Batgirl Movie Will Remain A Pop Culture Legend
The film production process is never an easy undertaking, and for every finished movie to grace viewers’ screens, countless other projects have failed to even make it through to filming, let alone worldwide release. However, when Warner Bros. Discovery announced that El Arbi and Fallah’s Batgirl movie was being shelved after already having finished filming, it marked an unprecedented studio decision that would go on to generate considerable shock and dismay to both its creative team and expectant audiences.
With El Arbi and Fallah’s unfinished comic book movie now securely locked away, reportedly in exchange for a handsome tax break, it seems unlikely that viewers will ever get to see the pair’s vision for the classic DC heroine. Yet in the absence of its original streaming release, talk of Batgirl’s potential and missed opportunities have gone on to quickly become the stuff of pop culture legend. Armed with only a handful of set videos and behind-the-scenes images, comic book fans and social media commentators have ceaselessly pondered and debated what might have been.
Taking over from the equally fascinating tale of Tim Burton’s unmade Superman Lives film starring Nicolas Cage, El Arbi and Fallah’s Batgirl will continue to live on in infamy as the most intriguing movie among DC’s list of cancelled projects. With the directors also missing out on getting the chance to direct Beverly Hills Cop 4, the sting of that decision clearly hits the pair all the more deeply. Hopefully, however, the two will still go on to enjoy far more Hollywood successes to help outweigh the bitterness of their recent disappointments as they return for Bad Boys 4.
Source: The Messenger
