Yahoo Sports Batgirl 's Leslie Grace can't wait for audiences to see The Flash 's Latina Supergirl Sasha Calle
Leslie Grace may have had to hang up her Batgirl costume but there is one superhero she cannot wait for the world to see: Sasha Calle.
"She's such a star and she's such a great representation," the In The Heights star excitedly says of the new Supergirl, who will be seen in this month's The Flash. "[She is] an incredible representation of everything we need right now. That's my sister."
Calle plays Kara Zor-El, Clark Kent's Kryptonian relative, in the upcoming movie (June 16), where Ezra Miller's Barry Allen — a.k.a. the Flash — travels back in time via the Speed Force to save his parents. In the process, he changes the present — and it's in this timeline that we meet Calle's Supergirl.
While their characters never cross paths on screen, Grace says she and Calle filmed their movies closely together and met after they had wrapped their respective projects.
"I got to see [The Flash] two nights ago, and to watch her shine and do her thing and know that the world will see it, it is such a win," Grace says. "I'm exploding with excitement for everyone to be able to see her rep us, to see her shine, especially after everything that has occurred."
Ian Eastwood; Instagram/lesliegrace; DC Leslie Grace; Leslie Grace as 'Batgirl'
When David Zaslav took over Warner Bros. Discovery, the ax fell on many largely diverse and inclusive projects including the highly anticipated Batgirl which starred Grace as the first Afro-Latinx Batgirl in the DCEU. Zaslav's decision opened the door to public criticism from fans as well as stars and creatives, including the film's directors, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, costar Brendan Fraser, and many other notable directors. While the new Warner Bros. Discovery president proclaimed the film was "unreleasable," critics also pointed out how shelving the film was a direct attack on representation — and during a time when Latinos are still woefully underrepresented.
"Something that's important within this conversation of representation — Latino representation in film and TV — is more than being seen in a specific light whenever we play a role," Grace says now. "It's very important that when we're playing roles that are specifically Latino, that they're nuanced and that they have detail when it's merited."
She continues, "But I also think that just existing, having the right to just play a role and exist like any other actor has the privilege to do, is so important. And in this case, I had the opportunity to do that as a superhero and exist in this space and be where I'm from and look how I look and speak how I speak and bring that value, for whatever it's worth, to the story of Batgirl and Barbara Gordon.... There are more roles ahead. I'm grateful that I got to have that experience and I get to still speak on it."
And hope doesn't seem entirely lost for Grace that her Batgirl could see the light of day.
"Maybe one day the movie will be seen," she says. "This experience has shown me that sometimes certain things happen in order for you to feel the importance and the value of your own voice. So I'm definitely keeping that in mind for the future."
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