Brendan Fraser claims Glasgow makes the “perfect” Gotham City
Brendan Fraser has earned critical acclaim for his recent role in Darren Aronofsky movie The Whale and is also set to star in Martin Scorsese’s next film, Killers of the Flower Moon. However, one film that Fraser also appeared in recently – and one that we will never see is – the scrapped DC Comics adaptation Batgirl.
Discussing the film with Howard Stern, Fraser said: “I was in Batgirl; we shot that entirely. It’s in a vault somewhere, in the dumpster. I [played the villain] Firefly, yeah. It was great. Adil and Bilal did the Bad Boys movies, they are great at blowing shit up, and they love doing it. Practical fire effects, making stuff go ‘BANG’. They’re all over it.”
It was in August last year that Warner Bros Discovery made the decision to axe the film even though it had entered the post-production phase. Reportedly, the test screenings of the film came back with negative responses, and another reason for the cancellation was the sudden shift in direction for Warner Bros’ future theatrical releases.
Fraser also claimed that Gotham City was perfectly suited to be shot in Glasgow. “And Gotham never looked better cast as Glasgow, Scotland, you know,” he said. “It’s decaying and just gorgeous, and it looks like Gotham City; it’s perfectly cast. You believe it no matter where you look in the town if you look at it the right way.”
Opening up about his role in the film in more detail, Fraser added: “It was a story about a guy who had been in the service, and his benefits were cut, and he was very angry with the system. What else is he going to do but burn it to the ground? That’s all you need to know. You’ve got some sympathy for them. You’ve got some humanity to him, and on top of that, a screw loose because, you know, he’s a bad guy.”
Firefly sounds like a brilliant villain, so it’s a deep shame that we will never get to see him. As Fraser says: “Like all the best bad guys, you kinda like him a little bit. That was this role. I relished this part; it was great fun.”
The actor then went into the fact that he hadn’t even been able to watch the final product of his labours. “I’ve never seen the film, but I have friends and co-workers who’ve seen it,” he said. “They all say really good things about it. But it wasn’t finished.”
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