Making a superhero movie means plenty of rumors will come out during the development process, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice had no shortage of those, from Bizarro showing up to seeing Jason Todd. Among the more persistent rumors during this time, though, was that The Hunger Games: Catching Fire star Jena Malone was either playing an older version of Carrie Kelley, best known as Robin in The Dark Knight Returns, or Barbara Gordon, a.k.a. Batgirl. Not only did this turn out to be incorrect, but Malone's part was cut from the Batman v Superman theatrical release. Nevertheless, the actress got a kick out of the idea that people thought she would be portraying a DC superhero. She explained:
But for me, the funniest thing that I learned about that is you don't have to be in a movie to let everyone think you're in a movie. I learned a really interesting lesson in the sense of false PR---by me being just on set of that, there were all these swirling rumors that I was Robin. And I was like, wow, this is actually a really interesting technique to get a job---to pretend you have it. It was definitely a lesson in public relations that I hadn't fully engaged with that I would love to reinterpret in maybe a political anarchist type of way. It's cool.
As we learned once Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice's Ultimate Edition, Malone had actually been brought on to play Jenet Klyburn, a S.T.A.R. Labs scientist who analyzed the bullet that Lois Lane brought back from Nairomi. Jenet later informed Lois that Wallace Keefe's wheelchair had lead in it, which Lois realized was meant to prevent Superman from seeing the bomb that was inside. Malone's part was small, but her character helped make Lois' story in Batman v Superman's Ultimate Edition more interesting than it had been in the theatrical cut. As for Malone, she wasn't particularly broken up to see her part cut from Batman v Superman's main release. When asked if it was weird to learn she'd been taken out of the movie, she responded:
No, it wasn't. I had some scenes. It wasn't---for me, the beauty of working with friends is that someone can call you up and be like, 'I'd love for you to come and do this part for two days."'And you're like, 'Yeah. Awesome.' It negates all of the bullshit of auditioning and going between agents and all this other stuff and Zack Snyder and I really love working together and get along and have very similar work ethics. So when he was like, 'Hey, I've got a little something for you,' I was like, 'Awesome.' I didn't really think much of it, nor did I expect anything of it. It was just one of those great, you know---two blocks away is a baker and here I am as a grain farmer. Cool, I'll be over on Monday. We can make a loaf of bread. No big deal.
Jena Malone previously worked with Zack Snyder on 2011's Sucker Punch, and judging by what she said during her conversation with The AV Club a while back, I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to work with her again on one of his next movies. But as far as the DC Extended Universe is concerned, unless one of the filmmakers there decides to cast her in a new role (it's happened a few times in the MCU), then her time with the franchise is done.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for all major updates concerning the DCEU, and don't forget to look at our DC movies guide to learn what projects this franchise has in development.
