BIRDS OF PREY CHARACTERS MOVIE
BIRDS OF PREY CHARACTERS SERIES

Yan’s recruitment to the project came after a post-Sundance 2018 coffee meeting with screenwriter Christina Hodson, who was at work on a script that would suit Robbie’s expressed interest to draft off the Suicide Squad success with a spinoff that showcased Harley Quinn as the reckless outlier persona in a female ensemble. It was really nice to be able to do that.” Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Margot Robbie, and Ella Jay Basco Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock

BIRDS OF PREY CHARACTERS MOVIE

As a filmmaker, it’s definitely quite liberating to not feel so bound by every movie before and every movie after… it was great to create our own Gotham and create our version of these beloved characters. I asked Yan if she thought the more-liberated approach of Warner’s DC adaptations could be a boon to the studio’s efforts to attract auteur talents in the future.

BIRDS OF PREY CHARACTERS SERIES

Warners tried an overly accelerated version of that approach (see: Justice League) but now is open to edgy R-rated projects (once considered verboten for superhero brands) and stand-alone series that exist in their own worlds (as is the case with Joker). The Marvel method sticks to PG-13 fare and connects all of its movies with a shared latticework mythology that buoys each new franchise with a familiar backstory and shared brand appeal. The success of Joker and the positive early reaction to Birds of Prey show Warner Bros is going in a different direction than Disney’s Marvel Studios, which is Hollywood’s most successful superhero factory and the industry’s hottest hitmaker. (Who knew Bruce Wayne’s glum hometown had so much glitter and neon?) For Yan, born in China but raised outside Washington, D.C., the project became an ode to popcorn movies of her youth and a fast-pass opportunity to jump aboard the thrill ride known as Hollywood studio moviemaking. Tracking projections at mid-week had Birds of Prey pulling in $110 to $125 million in its opening weekend but with early reviews embracing the cheeky story, the uncorked charisma of Robbie’s wild-child romp, and Yan’s offbeat Gotham City aesthetic. Dead Pigs was Yan’s first film out of New York University’s film program and now, with Birds of Prey, she’s got one hell of a follow-up effort. Two years ago last month, Yan was a first-time indie filmmaker celebrating her Sundance Film Festival award for Dead Pigs, a spirited and trenchant comedy filmed in China with Mandarin dialogue and a production budget smaller than Birds of Prey’s catering costs. The movie’s transformation themes don’t end at the edges of the screen. Robbie, as you may have guessed, plays the punk-rock pixie, who struggles throughout the film to reinvent herself while also staying alive. The transformation themes of Birds of Prey are spread among the core characters: a fading cop, a seething Mafia princess, a caged songbird, and a heartsick psychotic who looks like a mosh-pit Tinkerbell. The studio also signed-off on an R-rating (taking encouragement, surely, from the record-breaking success of Fox’s proudly lurid Deadpool franchise). gave the go-ahead for a spinoff showcase with an $81 million production budget. Robbie stole every scene as Harley and the film did robust business ($747 million worldwide gross) despite sour reviews so Warner Bros. Ryan Gosling In Talks To Reteam With 'Barbie's Margot Robbie For New 'Ocean's Eleven' Film At Warner Bros.

Birds of prey characters