Batgirl Movie Writer Provides First Hint at What to Expect in New Interview

Screenwriter Christina Hodson sat down with The LA Times to talk about her upcoming projects, the Birds of Prey movie set to begin production soon and the Batgirl film she is currently writing.



Batgirl


When pressed for details, she couldn’t reveal anything in terms of plot (“Basically nothing”), being in the early stages, but did share what drew her to the character.


“I’m really excited — because she’s Batgirl! She’s all the things I love about Batman. I’ve always been more interested in humans than supernatural things and monsters. People are capable of profound good, but also profound evil. The things that people will do when you back them into a corner are amazing, terrifying, and wonderful at the same time, and it draws out these primal things in us — good and bad. And that, to me, is so fascinating.”



Batgirl hasn’t been seen in live-action on the big screen since Alicia Silverstone played her in Batman & Robin. While Batgirl didn’t appear on the show, Barbara Gordon as Oracle did appear on Birds of Prey which was a live-action drama that premiered on The WB. In that version Babs was played by Dina Meyer. The show, produced by Altered Carbon’s Laeta Kalogridis, lasted one season.



Birds of Prey

Birds of Prey, which will feature Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn and the villainous mobster Black Mask, rolls into production in January. Robbie also serves as producer and is working closely with Hodson on the script. It started coming together when director Cathy Yan came aboard because she liked the dark humor and theme of female empowerment Hodson put into her script.



Growing up on big-budget action pictures in the era of VHS, Hodson wanted to combine what she was seeing on screen with what she wasn’t seeing.







“When I grew up and I was watching all of these Hollywood movies, all of the heroes were straight white men — always. I wanted to be the archaeologist digging up the big thing running away from the boulder. I wanted to have those big adventures and I never got to see it. Certainly as a mixed-race kid, I never got to see it… so I can’t help but want to fix that. I can’t help but want all of my leads to be female.”



Hodson stated to The Times her favorite film of all time is Terminator 2: Judgement Day, a film acclaimed for its groundbreakingly tough and complicated female lead in Sarah Connor. She also mused she wishes she could’ve written that film, so it’s a strong possibility Hodson has that dream and Linda Hamilton’s performance in mind as she pens her screenplay, taking Barbara in a similar direction.



Christina Hodson got the gig writing Batgirl last April after she replaced Joss Whedon. Hodson’s next film will be the Transformers spin-off Bumblebee.



What do you make of Hodson’s comments regarding Batgirl? What about her approach to Birds of Prey?

Batgirl is an interesting one as far as adaptations. The most recent interpretations we’ve had her were Alicia Silverstone on Batman and Robin, and then Dina Meyer portrayed Oracle on the Birds of Prey TV show. We’ve yet to see her on the film side since then, but with the DC Extended Universe having more established heroes by the time we see them, it’s a fair assumption that Barbara Gordon is probably out there somewhere in Gotham City. But like Nightwing, it will just be a minute before we see her. Still, screenwriter Christina Hodson is pumped for the project.



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Hodson, who wrote the Bumblebee film and is currently working on Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey, sat down with the Los Angeles Times to discuss her excitement at the prospect of working on the Batgirl project, once previously in the hands of Joss Whedon. While Christina Hodson didn’t have much to say on Batgirl because, admittedly, there isn’t a lot to say at the moment, she is, at the very least, excited. What more could you want from a screenwriter when adapting a character? But more than that, she enjoys Batgirl’s similarities to the Dark Knight himself:



“She’s all the things I love about Batman. I’ve always been more interested in humans than supernatural things and monsters. People are capable of profound good, but also profound evil. The things that people will do when you back them into a corner are amazing, terrifying, and wonderful at the same time, and it draws out these primal things in us — good and bad. And that, to me, is so fascinating.”



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Fascinating indeed. Now it remains to be seen just how Batgirl will be introduced into the DC Extended Universe. She could always make an appearance in Birds of Prey or The Batman prior to her actual film, similar to how we saw Mera last year in Justice League before we see more of her later this December in Aquaman. The same could be applicable here, but right now, it’s promising that Christina Hodson has a good idea of Batgirl’s innate goodness as a character.



Again, there’s not much to go off of at the moment and even this excerpt doesn’t reveal much, but at the very least, while Hodson has other current projects, Batgirl is still present and on her mind. Who would you ultimately want to see don the cowl and become Batgirl on screen?