‘Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of Harley Quinn‘ is coming and many people are wondering how newcomer director Cathy Yan ended up at the helm. Her debut film ‘Dead Pigs’ had screened at Sundance but has yet to be released. Not only that, Yan doesn’t have an extensive in at Warner Bros. or DC Films. While Margot Robbie did see ‘Dead Pigs’ and loved how it handled an ensemble cast, it was the pitch that got her attention.
According to the actress, “I remember writing copious notes every time we spoke to someone and Cathy came in, and my page, there was just a big smiley face. I was just like, “It was perfect. She’s perfect for it.”
Yan went on to discuss the pitch:
“Sure. I mean, frankly, I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. And I’d put together I think this is public now, so I put together like a little pitch deck that just had all my thoughts about the aesthetics of the film and the world. And then I also kind of created a sizzle reel, but it wasn’t like a sizzle reel where it just was like here’s a reference and here’s another reference and here’s another reference.
But to me the story’s super compelling and personal to me because it is about emancipation, about women sort of like almost being competitive with one another and bringing each other down, but also because of our own inabilities I think to feel so powerless and like the stranglehold that is the patriarchy. And so I feel like I very much have gone through that arc myself, and I’ve seen it with especially I think set against the backdrop of like #MeToo and what has been happening in our industry in the last few years. So that definitely infiltrated its way into my pitch as well. So that for me this film was so much more than a superhero film and the first girl gang film or any of that. But it really has a compelling narrative and theme to it that is very, very personal to me.”
We’ve long heard that emancipation was a significant theme in the film and it feels like a good sign that it was part of the feature’s development since Day 1.
Are you looking forward to the release of ‘Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of Harley Quinn’? Do you feel that Cathy Yan seems to have the ideal outlook to bring this film together? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
‘Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)’ is set to open on February 7th, 2020.
