Batgirl star Leslie Grace opens up about learning a lot from action veteran Brendan Fraser and the biggest challenge acting against the villain actor. The upcoming film marks the DC Extended Universe debuts for both Grace in the titular role and Fraser as the villainous pyromaniac Firefly who is currently terrorizing Gotham City. Interestingly, though, it's not Fraser's first time in the world of DC Comics as he currently plays former NASCAR driver-turned-cyborg Cliff Stele in HBO Max's Doom Patrol series.
The cast for Batgirl also includes the DCEU returns of J.K. Simmons as the heroine's father Jim Gordon, his first appearance since Justice League, and Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman, who is crossing over thanks to the multiverse events of The Flash. Alongside Grace and Fraser, the movie will mark the franchise debuts of Ivory Aquino as Barbara Gordon's best friend Alysia Yeoh and Jacob Scipio, Rebecca Front, Corey Johnson and Ethan Kai in undisclosed roles. Batgirl is being helmed by Bad Boys for Life duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah with a script from Birds of Prey and The Flash scribe Christina Hodson and with filming now concluded on the DCEU effort, one star is already reflecting on their time with the project.
In a recent interview with Variety, Leslie Grace opened up about making her superhero debut with the upcoming Batgirl movie. The actress revealed she learned a lot in working with action veteran Brendan Fraser on the film, praising his acting abilities while also citing the biggest challenge in acting with him being the actor's sweet personality. See what Grace shared below:
"It was an incredible learning experience to be on set with action veterans like Brendan Fraser, and soak up it all up. It was so hard because he’s our villain and I’m not supposed to like him but he’s such a huge teddy bear. He is one of the nicest people that I’ve ever met. In our fight sequences the way he would just hit marks, it came from all of his experience. You can’t improvise that kind of experience."
Long before he took a hiatus from acting, Fraser made a name for himself in the action genre leading the film adaptation of George of the Jungle in the titular role and Universal's rebooted The Mummy franchise as former mercenary-turned-adventurer Rick O'Connell. Though he would explore other genre roles ranging from the comedic Bedazzled remake to the acclaimed drama Gods and Monsters, Fraser would continue to appear in the action and adventure genre with such film as Looney Tunes: Back in Action and Journey to the Center of the Earth. While Fraser may not have as many action movies to his name as other genre vets such as Sylvester Stallone or Jean-Claude Van Damme, it's understandable Leslie Grace would still consider him a major name in the field and seek to learn as much as possible from him while working with him.
Leslie Grace's note of having difficulties seeing Brendan Fraser through a villainous lens while working on Batgirl is sure to be a touching story for fans of the latter actor. Since his resurgence began with Showtime's The Affair and FX's Trust, fans have gotten a true look at Fraser's down-to-Earth personality, with the star notably getting choked up in a number of recent convention appearances and interviews upon hearing the waves of appreciation from audiences who have followed his career over the years. It will be interesting to see how Fraser sheds his real persona as the villainous Firefly when Batgirl arrives on HBO Max later this year.
Source: Variety
