Pedro Almodóvar 'would like to work with Batgirl' but 'in his own way'

CULT film director Pedro Almodóvar has admitted he would like to cast Batgirl in one of his productions, despite having ruled out Marvel movies a few years back.

During the recent Los Angeles International Film Festival, when the Castilla-La Mancha-born scriptwriter showcased his latest work, Madres Paralelas ('Parallel Mothers'), starring legendary 'Almodóvar Girl' Penélope Cruz, he was asked what he thought about 'super-hero cinema'.

Reporters posing the question did not distinguish between DC or Marvel, and Almodóvar responded: “I'd like to do something with Batgirl, but I'd have to do it in my own way.”

Those who are familiar with Spanish film will know that the legendary director's early productions, in the 1980s and early 1990s, were – like others in the industry – very much a product of their time, pushing every boundary as far as was socially-acceptable and then stretching them even further; after long decades of an iron-fisted dictatorship when the arts and media were under strict censorship, the death of fascist leader General Franco in 1975 meant the entertainment world completely let its hair down and went to the opposite extreme.

Almodóvar's first films are famous for their melodrama and provocative characters and plots, featuring drag queens, transsexuals, prostitutes, drugs, homosexuality, and explicit sex scenes – all that would have led to a show never making it beyond the studio and the crew being arrested until 46 years ago.

His later productions, particularly in the 21st century, have sometimes held onto the melodrama but have calmed down considerably – still risqué and off-the-wall, but frequently more realistic and sentimental.

Working out how Almodóvar would cast Batgirl involves serious acrobatics of the imagination, but DC has allowed directors a certain degree of creative licence recently – as seen in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad.

A Batgirl film is, indeed, on the cards, for HBO Max, starring Leslie Grace with Brendan Fraser as the villain.

Just a few years back, when 'super-hero cinema' started to become popular with audiences of all ages again, Pedro Almodóvar was reported as saying these were not his cup of tea as there was 'not enough sex in them'.

“Perhaps it's a kind of self-censorship, but the thing is, there are loads of super-hero films out there and sexuality doesn't seem to exist among their characters. They're a bit repressed, and they only seem bothered about seeking adventure,” Almodóvar mused at the time.

Back then, he was asked if he would like to direct a Marvel film one day, and he rejected the idea out of hand on the basis that the concept was 'too big for him' and that he did not feel he would 'fit in with the Hollywood system'.

Despite the latter assertion, Almodóvar's biggest and longest-serving protégés, who started their acting careers in his films, are now huge on the Hollywood scene – Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz are every bit as famous outside their home country as they are in Spain, although both of them continue to star in Almodóvar works regularly.

In fact, Banderas' only Oscar nomination in his 40-year career was for Almodóvar's semi-autobiographical Dolor y Gloria ('Pain and Glory').