J.K. Simmons will begin shooting his scenes for Batgirl in January 2022. The film is a new addition to the DC Extended Universe from directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, helming a screenplay by Birds of Prey and The Flash 2022 scribe Christina Hodson. The Batgirl movie cast includes Leslie Grace as the titular heroine, Brendan Fraser as the villain Firefly, and Jacob Scipio in an unspecified role. Although the official release date has not been announced yet, the film is currently set to stream exclusively on HBO Max, likely sometime in 2023.
For Batgirl, Simmons will reprise the role of the classic Batman character Commissioner Jim Gordon, which he first played in 2017's Justice League. While Gordon wasn't a particularly major part of that film and didn't expect to return to the DCEU, he is expected to have a much more robust role in Batgirl. In addition to his general duties as Gotham's police commissioner, he is also the father of Batgirl, whose real name is Barbara Gordon. Although no details from the plot have emerged as of yet, their dynamic will certainly be an important part of the project and potentially explore more of Gordon's history with Batman, which was an undernourished element of Justice League.
Simmons appeared on this week's episode of Josh Horowitz's podcast Happy Sad Confused and revealed details about the production of Batgirl, which will be beginning very soon. The star didn't say exactly when overall production was going to begin, but it seems like it will be sometime in December, after some preliminary remote rehearsals this week. The shoot will be taking place in Glasgow, Scotland, and Simmons will be joining the Batgirl production in January. The actor said he was very excited to be shooting in Glasgow because it's "gothic." Read his full quote below:
"I’m gonna get on the horn with [Leslie Grace] and the directors in the next couple days and do a little preliminary rehearsals on it… A couple of months from now, well, they start very soon and then I jump on board sometime in January over in Glasgow, which is a wonderful place to be shooting it because it’s - you know- gothic… I’m excited to be the once and future Jim Gordon."
Jim Gordon has had a long history of live-action portrayals long before the rise of the DCEU, dating all the way back to Lyle Talbot's performance in the Batman and Robin serial in the late 1940s. He has appeared in numerous Batman projects throughout the years, including the Dark Knight Trilogy, in which the character was played by Gary Oldman. Gordon is also appearing in the 2022 film The Batman, played by Jeffrey Wright. So, Batgirl is giving J.K. Simmons the chance to make his portrayal stand out among the competition much more than Justice League could have.
As production on Batgirl ramps up, fans are likely to get more and more insight into what exactly the film is going to look like. So far, all that has been revealed about the project are some of the cast and crew, and a close look at Leslie Grace's Batgirl workout routine to prepare for the role. However, those who are eager for new tidbits from the movie are certainly going to hear more about casting once cameras start rolling, with even more exciting Batgirl details to come pouring in after that - including a first look at Simmons' returning Jim Gordon.
Source: Happy Sad Confused
