Cathy Yan reflects on transforming Harley Quinn from little more than the Joker’s girlfriend to a fantabulously emancipated three-dimensional character in “Birds of Prey” in a new interview with The New York Times.
“It was an opportunity to keep exploring the layers of Harley Quinn, because in ‘Suicide Squad,’ she really is the girlfriend and it’s about her relationship with the Joker,” the director explains. “She became a fan favorite, and Margot [Robbie] brought such depth to the character. But she was one member of an ensemble. And here, the movie is Harley — it’s implanted in Harley’s brain and seen through Harley-vision, basically,” she emphasized. In other words, the standalone pic offers audiences the chance to see the world through Harley’s eyes. No longer an accessory to the Joker, Harley has the chance to forge her own path and rebuild an identity that’s separate from her abusive ex’s.
Yan recalled, “She could do anything, she could say anything. She gets to be her own hero and savior. The whole movie’s about these women emancipating themselves — it doesn’t have to just be from a relationship. It could be from their own self-doubt. It could be from a system that they don’t feel really sees them. All of the Birds go through that in some way.”
The “Dead Pigs” filmmaker also spoke about the pressures associated with being a woman directing a big budget genre movie. Asked whether her experience on “Birds of Prey” made her feel like “a stand in for [her] entire gender in a way that [her] male counterparts are not,” Yan acknowledged that she indeed experienced that pressure. “When a male-led action movie doesn’t do well,” she explained, “it doesn’t necessarily negate male-led action movies for the next five or 10 years. The press isn’t writing about that. But it’s hard to not feel that way. I felt like, female directors, Asian directors, Asian female directors — my failure would somehow preclude them from the opportunities that they deserve. That’s something that we have to bear that responsibility of,” she said.
“Wonder Woman” helmer Patty Jenkins recently revealed that that same sense of responsibility contributed to her decision to exit “Thor: The Dark World. “I did not believe that I could make a good movie out of the script that they were planning on doing. I think it would have been a huge deal — it would have looked like it was my fault. It would’ve looked like, ‘Oh my God, this woman directed it and she missed all these things,'” she recalled. “That was the one time in my career where I really felt like, Do this with [another director] and it’s not going to be a big deal. And maybe they’ll understand it and love it more than I do.” She added, “You can’t do movies you don’t believe in. The only reason to do it would be to prove to people that I could. But it wouldn’t have proved anything if I didn’t succeed. I don’t think that I would have gotten another chance.”
Head over to The New York Times to hear more from Yan. “Birds of Prey” dropped on VOD March 24.
