FUN AND DAMES
It’s really surreal,” says Margot Robbie, looking at a poster for Birds Of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn), to give it its full title.
“I feel like I’ve spent so long thinking about it, and working on it, that it’s going to be really nice to be able to put it out in the world.” She’s not exaggerating. This spin-off movie for Harley Quinn and her “girl gang” has been in the works for years, since before Suicide Squad – the DC movie in which Harley made her big-screen debut – opened in 2016.
“Once I started getting to know her, and prepping for [Suicide Squad], I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, there is so much more to be done with this character,’” continues Robbie. “Obviously, you can only do so much in a film like Suicide Squad where there are so many other characters, and you’ve got to be introduced to everyone, and you’ve got a huge plot thing to contend with. So I was just like, ‘There is so much more to do with her.’”
“I was given the opportunity to do something that was quite different, and wasn’t a sequel in any way”
CATHY YAN
Robbie took Harley’s destiny into her own hands: a key producer on Birds Of Prey, she was integral when it came to pulling together the behind-the-scenes talent. She met with screenwriter Christina Hodson (Bumblebee) four years ago to start work on script treatments and drafts. Cathy Yan (Sundance hit Dead Pigs) was appointed to direct, chosen for her proven ability to handle an ensemble and create a heightened reality. “She gave a great pitch, to be honest,” explains Robbie.
“She put together this sizzle reel which was fantastic. It was a no-brainer for us after that.”
It’s October 2019 when meets Robbie in the Four Seasons New York Downtown hotel, she couldn’t be styled more differently to her punky on-screen persona. She looks is more of a standalone than a direct continuation of . “It’s very much like the comic books where you pick up in a totally different place, and it doesn’t directly link to what happened before,” she says. “But at the same time, it’s not such a leap that you’re like, ‘Oh, what’s going on?!’”
