The Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) creative team made intentionally surprising casting choices on the film. In some ways, live-action DC movies have long been known for their unexpected, yet ultimately successful casting choices. Michael Keaton, for example, was a controversial choice to star in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman thirty years ago, but is now considered by many to be one of the best Caped Crusaders ever. And as polarizing as Batman V Superman was, many people agreed Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne was a highlight.

Admittedly, DC’s upcoming Birds of Prey always had an advantage in that area. Margot Robbie earned praise left and right for her turn as Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad, so there was never any question of her being recast for the film. And while characters like Huntress and Black Canary are certainly popular, people in general don’t have quite as strong an opinion about their casting as they do iconic DC superheroes like Superman and Wonder Woman. Even so, Birds of Prey managed to fill those roles in (purposely) intriguing and unpredictable ways.

Speaking to Screen Rant on the Birds of Prey set, producer Sue Kroll discussed the film’s “unexpected” casting picks - specifically, Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Black Canary, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress, Ella Jay Basco as Cassandra Cain, and Rosie Perez as Detective Renee Montoya - and offered some insight into why director Cathy Yan ultimately made the choices she did.

As Kroll noted, most of these castings were largely unanticipated. Winstead, for example, had starred in cult hits like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and showed up during the last two Die Hard movies, but was far from a full-blooded action star when she signed on for Birds of Prey. By comparison, Smollett-Bell was best known for working in television (having appeared on shows like True Blood and Underground), and Basco is essentially a newcomer to the big screen. Even a long-respected character actor like Perez, who made her feature debut in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing thirty years ago, is something of a left-field choice to play a seasoned Gotham City cop who teams up with a bunch of costumed vigilantes in a DC adventure.

The thing about these women to me is, first of all, I think they’re also unexpected in these roles as actresses. Jurnee brings a very sultry, wounded, but very strong kind of dimension to Canary. And she’s a wonderful actress. I think we’re really lucky we have Mary as our Huntress. She is mysterious, and cool, and again she’s done some really wonderful things with her career. Obviously Margot is a dream for any movie. And Rosie Perez has been really interesting as Renee. We love - every time we talk about this movie - the fact that she’s older. I’m sure that you know, and you probably even wrote about it, people were surprised that she wasn’t like a younger version. But I think it’s really great that we have all these interesting generations of women. And she’s got this world-weariness that she brings to the character that I don’t think anybody else can. But she’s also an acclaimed actress, and amazing. Ella is new to this, comes from a very fine family of actors. She’s been killing it.

Though again, as history has shown, outside the box casting selections have typically served DC movies well, and ought to do the same with Birds of Prey. The film’s trailers have focused heavily on Robbie’s return as Harley Quinn (which only makes sense, considering she’s the best established character), but Yan has described Birds of Prey as being “truly an ensemble film”, saying the individual Birds are all protagonists in their own right. Assuming that’s the case, its actors should have enough room to put their stamp on their respective crime-fighters. They might not be the Birds of Prey fans remember from the comic books, yet they’re all the more exciting interpretations for it.

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