Birds of Prey screenwriter teases DC movie: “It’s not a traditional team-up”

Related Articles

Team Fortress 2 gets another surprise “exploits and stability” update

July 9, 2022

PUBG Update 18.2 releases next week with the new map Deston

July 9, 2022

Team Fortress 2 gets another surprise “exploits and stability” update

July 9, 2022

Although we may still be a few weeks away from the Joker movie (opens in new tab) finally reaching cinemas, fans are eagerly awaiting another DC movie: Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). The latest wild card from Warner Bros. comic-book stable sees Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) jettison her Suicide Squad to team up with a new girl gang, including Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Huntress and Jurnee Smollett-Bell’s Black Canary. 

“Margot knew she wanted to tell a ‘Harley Quinn plus girls’ story,” screenwriter Christina Hodson tells our sister publication Total Film (opens in new tab) in their latest issue. “That was kind of where she began with it. She knew she wanted a girl gang. She wanted Harley to have friends.”

Producer/star Robbie met with Hodson four years ago (before Suicide Squad had even opened) to start thrashing out ideas, and Robbie “had naturally gravitated towards the Birds of Prey”, explains Hodson. “She’s a comic-book fan. Obviously, you know, it’s not a traditional team-up. So then it was about finding fun, inventive ways of doing that. Warners were very supportive in terms of letting me go off-leash.”

Speaking previously to Total Film, Hodson said Birds of Prey (which reaches cinemas February 2020) would be “standalone” and will stand apart from Suicide Squad. “Obviously, yes, it’s a character we have met before, but it’s really its own story, and that’s kind of how I approached it,” she said. “I just tried to take myself off-leash. I fell in love with this character, and then all of these other new characters. And I just created a brand new story that felt like its own thing, and that doesn’t have to feel like it follows one or the other.”

For more on Birds of Prey, as well as dozens of other movies, check out the latest issue Total Film, on shelves this Friday. If you’re a fan of Total Film (opens in new tab), why not subscribe so that you never miss an issue, and you’ll get exclusive subscriber-only covers, like the one below, delivered directly to your doormat before the magazine hits shelves? What are you waiting for?

They’re back! @Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton return as T-800 and Sarah Connor in #TerminatorDarkFate – here’s your exclusive look at the duo, alongside some new faces to the franchise, on the subscribers-only cover of #TotalFilm pic.twitter.com/ydnO1SVPPaSeptember 16, 2019

See more

We’re currently running a subscription offer (opens in new tab) where you can subscribe from as little as £12.25 every three months, and you’ll also get five blockbuster movies to run from Rakuten TV (which you can watch on any supported device including Smart TVs, consoles, tablets, smartphones and more). Head to My Favourite Magazines (opens in new tab) now to take advantage of the offer. (Ts and Cs apply).