RUMOR ALERT: Take this information with a grain of salt, as for right now, it is strictly RUMORS.
Maybe it’s time to put the Black in Black Canary? Reportedly, Warner Brothers and producer Margot Robbie wanted to give ‘Birds of Prey’ a multiethnic cast and they seemed to accomplish that with the inclusion of Renee Montoya, who is Latina and Cassandra Cain who is half-Asian and half-Caucasian. In more recent comic books, The Huntress/Helena Bertinelli has been illustrated with dark skin to reflect her Italian heritage, but the latest buzz is that ‘Baywatch’s Alexandra Daddario was being eyed for that role.
But now it appears that a multi-ethnic actor is being sought to play Black Canary, a character that has always been Caucasian in the comics and usually has blonde hair, although that’s usually fake, either bleached or a wig. In her real identity, Dinah Lance, she usually has black hair.
Juliana Harkavy who plays the third Black Canary on ‘Arrow’ is of mixed race, part Dominican, African, Chinese, Russian and Hungarian. But before she assumed the role, Caucasian stars Caity Lotz and Katie Cassidy portrayed the role. She has also been depicted as white on various cartoon series, once again, in keeping with her comic book renderings.
It turns out that Lady Gaga was approached to play a role in this movie and it may have been Black Canary. (The other choice would have been The Huntress.) But reportedly, in the script, Black Canary is a “world weary” adventurer, which sounds like the description for Ben Affleck’s Batman in ‘Batman V Superman’. That would seem to indicate that the role will go to a slightly older performer. Maybe Halle Berry wants to get back into a tight leather outfit. Orrrrrrrr, maybe not.
The villain of ‘Birds of Prey’ was recently announced as being the gruesome Black Mask. The film will also, obviously star producer Robbie, reprising her role as Harley Quinn from ‘Suicide Squad’. Robbie had previously expressed a desire for the movie to be rated-R, a la ‘Deadpool’ but we’ll see if that pans out, as this film obviously connects to Warner Brother’s larger DC film universe, which is meant to appeal to a larger audience including (toy-buying, sugary cereal-eating) kids.
Rumors will continue to swirl as ‘Birds of Prey’ creeps closer to production, which is expected to be sometime in early 2019. Check back for updates.
Source: That Hashtag Show
