The Birds of Prey movie is bringing a team of the deadliest women in DC’s Universe to the big screen, with the incomparable Harley Quinn leading the charge. And try as the filmmakers might to claim that Birds of Prey isn’t about a ‘message,’ there’s no denying the ground being broken with a comic book blockbuster written, produced, directed, and led by women.
Speaking with director Cathy Yan during our visit to the Birds of Prey set, we learned about the state of Harley Quinn when the film begins, the new explorations of her character fans can look forward to, and how the first Birds of Prey team-up with Harley Quinn actually isn’t a ’team-up’ in the usual sense… and definitely doesn’t make Harley a part of the team by the movie’s end. Check out our full interview with Cathy Yan below.
Can you talk a little bit about where we find Harley at the beginning of this film, and what her trajectory looks like from where we find her and where she ends up?
This is Harley after she meets The Joker obviously, but clearly she already had mental health issues beforehand. She went to Arkham to seek out Joker, and helped him escape. Does the film examine that distinction between what Joker brought out of Harley, and what’s still there that she’s living with?
It’s really Harley’s story, as well as all of these women’s stories. And in a way their stories kind of echo each other. So when our title includes ‘The Emancipation of One Harley Quinn’ that is essentially the story that she goes on. We find her basically without the Joker at the beginning of the film, and through the film she learns that she doesn’t need anyone but herself. She doesn’t necessarily make friends with the other women, but they come together, and through that they all sort of emancipate themselves throughout the film. And of course, a really important relationship is her relationship with little Cass, as well.
Yeah, absolutely. I think there’s such a duality in Harley Quinn, even in just the blue and the pink, and Dr. Harleen Quinzel versus Harley Quinn. Both sides of her are there, and she’s still very much the smart doctor that she once was. She’s still capable of armchair diagnosing anyone–we say that’s part of her superpower. But then she can be so easily manipulated and has really low self-esteem and has all of the issues that Joker really brought out in her. So I think this is a great opportunity to explore the woman behind ‘Harley Quinn,’ and explore that duality, and dive deeper into her psyche. Yeah, we definitely do that.
The film is clearly really inclusive, and we overheard some use of Spanish slang being used around during the scene. How do you find those little moments for these characters?
We’ve seen in the costumes and sets that there will be a lot of Easter Eggs for fans to see.
Well first, I think it comes down to the casting, and who we did cast. And encouraging all the ladies to make their characters their own. We’ve been having a lot of fun on set, and it’s amazing having Christina Hodson, our screenwriter, on set as well. We kind of joke that we share a similar brain. So it’s been great to be able to explore that, and we’ll have the women ad-lib, and add lines, and we’re always playing around with it. And they really take it upon themselves to add these little extra bits of personality and details. When you have someone like Rosie Perez doing it, it feels right, and authentic. It really is just what they’re doing and I’m encouraging it, but I’m certainly not like, ‘Do that thing!’ you know? [Laughs]
This movie is refreshing as a female ensemble, and the team behind the camera. But it feels really different from a lot of superhero stories in the sense that it isn’t playing into the ‘Chosen One’ trope, or having one savior, one villain. Was that something you thought about?
I think there are some, and certainly we pay homage to the comics. I love the opportunity to create our own Gotham, and world, but it does sit within the comics as well, and everything does pay homage to it. So even Harley’s outfit. It’s gold so it’s not her black and red, but it’s diamond checkered. So everything we do is still inspired by the comics, yeah.
I think that’s certainly something I gravitated to when I read the script. I love that. I love that it isn’t really ‘The Harley Quinn Movie,’ it very much is broader than that, and we check in with all of these women. It’s truly an ensemble film, it’s not even a team. You see them as a team right now, but we really spend time with each of these women, and they are very much the protagonists in the film. I joke that we have two villains and five protagonists. And they each really are their own… they feel like leads. And I like that. I like that story, I think it hasn’t really been told in that way. And I think we play around with that too, there isn’t really one villain or one savior. Life is not so black-and-white. We’re trying to do something a little different here. And Harley herself is an antihero, so sometimes, she’s really good and really heroic, and sometimes she’s terrible and irresponsible, and can do a lot of harm. She’s such a complicated character, so all of the characters in the film are too.
I really appreciate that DC films are starting to turn to more indie filmmakers. What do you feel you bring to the table to refresh part of the DC Universe? Knowing your films are big on neutrality, what do you hope your take would be on the DC world?
We’re seeing this story through Harley’s eyes, but you’ve got such a cool ensemble here. How much will we see it from the perspective of other characters?
Sure. I think the sensibility of just being a little more grounded. Part of my ignorance in regards to big VFX might come in handy with a film like this, because we’re just aiming to do it more of the old school way, everything in camera. I think I focus on the characters, and trying to make it about the characters and their development. Making sure everyone has an arc, and that they’re compelling, and interesting, and dynamic, and complicated. That’s more important to me, I think, than just blowing the whole world up [Laughs]. So that kind of indie sensibility. And aesthetically too, I’m really excited by a lot of what we’re able to do with the sets that we built, and the costumes we’re working with. Working with [production designer] K.K. Barrett, and [cinematographer] Matthew Libatique, and [costume designer] Erin Benach. They’re incredible and inspiring, really trying to push the envelope on that and create a new aesthetic world that we haven’t really seen before for Gotham.
Stay tuned to Screen Rant for more interviews and news from our visit to the Birds of Prey set, and more!
A lot, yeah. I’ll say that. A lot. It’s Harley’s story and she tells it, but like I said, it very much is a story of all of these women and how they come together.
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