Roxanne Gay Is Volunteering To Take Over As ‘Batgirl’ Writer After Joss Whedon Quit
Please let this happen.
After a year of thumb-twiddling, Joss Whedon has finally stepped down as writer and director of the upcoming Batgirl film, claiming he couldn’t come up with any ideas. Not ideal, given that coming up with ideas is literally the job.
Whatever the reason, I think we can all agree this is a wonderful development (ICYMI, people were pretty cranky that a bloke was tipped to write and direct a film about powerful women).
Joss Whedon: What about a Batgirl movie where she falls in love with a middle-aged guy who DMs her asking for feet pics?
Warner Bros: No.
Joss: It’s impossible to write a story for this, I quit!— pixelated boat [ASMR] binaural ~4 hours~ (@pixelatedboat) February 22, 2018
But even better than Whedon resigning is the news that some really great women are super keen to take his place. Minutes after the news of his resignation broke, Roxane Gay volunteered to write the film instead. This would honestly be the best thing ever to happen to superhero films. If you haven’t seen her work writing women-led comic books, we highly recommend you check it out.
Hey @DCComics I can write your batgirl movie, no prob.
— roxane gay (@rgay) February 22, 2018
Gay isn’t the only woman keen to work on the film. Twitter right now is flooded with people recommending gun writers and directors for the project, and if even a handful of them are interested we’ll be spoiled for choice.
Some of the names being floated include Hope Larson, who worked on the Batgirl comics, Dee Rees, director and writer of the award-winning Mudbound, and Kathryn Bigelow, director of The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty and a bunch of other award-winning films.
Yo, Hollywood, I have Batgirl stories. https://t.co/bFaRk4LmxX
— Hope Larson (@hopelarson) February 22, 2018
@ WB if you are looking for a female director for BATGIRL, I nominate Dee Rees. pic.twitter.com/nGHzT1Xw8M
— Cass™ (@philthatos) February 22, 2018
Hey Warner Bros, now would be a great time to hire a talented female director for #Batgirl. Here's a list to help you get started. I'll wait:
– Niki Caro
– Dee Rees
– Michelle MacLaren
– Kathryn Bigelow
– Lexi Alexander
– Mimi Leder
– Amma Asante https://t.co/O0mO1fl6Fo— Ashley Carter (@AshleyLCarter1) February 22, 2018
There’s no word yet on how many, if any, of the women being suggested for the role are actually interested in taking it, but we can dream. Let’s hope DC doesn’t squander this opportunity.
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Feature images by Gage Skidmore and Slowking4, used under CC BY-SA 3.0
