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Birds of Prey" felt urgent. It features Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress, Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Black Canary and Rosie Perez as Renee Montoya. It's written by a woman (Christina Hodson), directed by a woman (Cathy Yan) and has women producers (Robbie and Sue Kroll). The movie is an ambitious leap forward for LuckyChap — a $75 million, R-rated, Warner Bros./DC Entertainment production.
During "Suicide Squad," Robbie says she "fell in love with" Harley Quinn, though she didn't understand why the wildly brilliant, unstable character would stay in a relationship with the Joker (played by Jared Leto), who "wants to kill her most of the time."
She dove into research: She read the Sam Shepard play "Fool for Love," about a destructive relationship, and listened to TED Talks by women with schizophrenia who were also accomplished professionals. She immersed herself in the world of DC Comics, which she adores. "Harley has this unpredictable nature that means she could react in any way to any situation, which as an actor is just a gift," Robbie says.
A year before "Suicide Squad" came out, with the go-ahead from Warner Bros. and DC to explore a Harley spinoff, Robbie met with British screenwriter Hodson, with whom she shares an agent. Over brunch, which turned into pizza and mimosas, they bonded.
"An hour and a half later, we were drunk on a Wednesday morning, and we've been friends ever since," Robbie says. "The ideas started flowing." In person at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, Robbie exudes enthusiasm, speaking effusively about subjects such as the "Harry Potter" novels ("I read them on repeat"), Kayla's Sapphic chemistry with Kate McKinnon's "Bombshell" character, Jess Carr ("I secretly want a spinoff movie where Kayla and Jess go on a road trip with their opposing political views and blossoming romance") and LuckyChap's office ("It just feels like a nice house!") — it's easy to picture that drunken, brainstorming meal.
Upon its August 2016 release, "Suicide Squad" was greeted by some of the worst reviews for a comic book movie ever, though critics and fans agreed that Robbie was the best thing in it. The film made $746 million worldwide, a sequel was greenlit — critics be damned — and LuckyChap signed a first-look deal with Warner Bros.
As for Robbie's vision for "Birds of Prey," Hodson says: "She really wanted to see Harley with girlfriends, Harley in a girl gang. Harley is such a naturally sociable character. And I think there was just a general longing to see girls together on screen — women being friends."
Ackerley agrees about Robbie's motivations. "She has a group of friends in the U.K.; she has a group of friends in Australia; she has a group of girlfriends here," he says. "They live fun and vivacious lives. And she was like, 'I don't see that on screen.'" She also wanted the film to be rated R, for which, since "Deadpool" hadn't yet come out, there was no precedent — and "it took a bit of convincing," Robbie says.
Robbie and Hodson would meet to watch movies, and to discuss "comics that we love, different movies we love," Robbie says. They would look at something like "Trainspotting": "How did they achieve this feeling of beautiful chaos, but within it, everything feels satisfying?" she wonders. One of their sessions lasted 13 hours, Hodson recalls. "I was at the keyboard; she was doing story cards. She is remarkable in that sense. I certainly don't know of any other actors like her who would do that."
The two got along so well that when Hodson had an idea for improving the dismal numbers for women screenwriters, they decided to create the Lucky Exports Pitch Program, a four-week writers' room for six writers; four of the selected were women of color. (Hodson herself is half-Taiwanese.) Each came in with kernels of ideas, and now, with the program having just wrapped, all have solid pitches — and Hodson and LuckyChap attached as producers. "We are going to go out and pitch to all the studios and hopefully get them sold, and get them made," Robbie says.
When it came to finding a director for "Birds of Prey," Robbie and the other producers — who by that point included Kroll, the longtime Warner Bros. marketing chief executive who now runs Kroll & Co. Entertainment, and "I, Tonya" producer Bryan Unkeless — were committed to trying to hire a woman. But as with "I, Tonya," directed by Craig Gillespie, they wanted to choose the best person for the job. In the end, Yan, a Chinese American director whose sole movie credit was the 2018 indie feature "Dead Pigs," sold them. "She spoke to the aesthetic color palette, how she wanted to shoot action, how she wanted costume design to be reflective of the characters' personalities," Robbie says. "It was perfect."
The movie, as its subtitle implies, starts after Harley's breakup with the Joker. Robbie confirms that Leto's incarnation of the character doesn't appear, not even as a cameo. As far as that
other "Joker" goes, Robbie thinks Joaquin Phoenix "did a phenomenal job." But "Birds of Prey," she says, isn't at all like the Todd Phillips film: "I feel like the 'Joker' film was much more grounded. Ours is different. It's heightened."