‘Birds Of Prey’ Writer Christina Hodson Talks Ezra Miller’s The Flash Movie & Batgirl

Christina Hodson Birds of Prey Ezra Miller The Flash Batgirl

Birds of Prey and Batgirl writer Christina Hodson is leaving it up to Andy Muschietti to talk about the upcoming The Flash movie starring Ezra Miller.

The Birds of Prey crew is filled with a ton of amazing women and one of the most important members of the crew is writer Christina Hodson. Best known for writing 2018’s Bumblembee, Christina Hodson penned the Birds of Prey script and is on a bit of a hot streak, as she’s also attached to write Batgirl and Ezra Miller’s The Flash.

Recently, The Flash director Andy Muschietti revealed that the film will be loosely based on the Flashpoint storyline and bring back Ezra Miller. Ezra Miller solidified his return as The Flash by appearing opposite of Grant Gustin’s version of the Scarlet Speedster during The CW’s Crisis On Infinite Earths crossover event and it dropped some subtle hints as to where Barry Allen could go. During the Birds Of Prey press junket, I asked Christina Hodson if Batgirl was in the film at any point and if she had any updates on Ezra Miller’s The Flash.

You’ve written a very family-friendly film with Bumblebee and now you’ve moved into a very hard R world with Birds of Prey. How was the transition?

Christina Hodson: You’re saying you wouldn’t take your four-year-old to see this movie?

Definitely.

Christina Hodson: Honestly, it felt very natural. They’re both representative of different pieces of my personality. This is just the slightly edgier side of my personality.

Were there any specific takes that inspired your Huntress, Black Canary and Cassandra Cain?

Christina Hodson: Yeah, I mean. Listen, I did a deep dive on the comics and there’s lots of different pieces that I fell in love with from all over. I love the early Chuck Dixon stuff for the Birds of Prey. I love all the versions of Harley, but I think Connor and Palmiotti have done amazing stuff with Harley. But yeah, I’ve taken kind of different pieces and different inspirations from different eras. That’s one of the things that’s lovely about DC… there’s such a variety in the history of all of these characters that you get to kind of play around a little bit.

What inspired the huge departure with Cassandra Cain?

Christina Hodson: She is very different. Mostly it was about… we knew we want to tell this story of these four women kind of coming together. As you know, Harley Quinn has never traditionally been a character in the Birds of Prey. It’s a weird kind of thing and what we wanted to do is have these four women collide in a strange and unusual way, and Cass kind of became the catalyst for that story. She became the emotional linchpin of it.

Cassandra Cain was once a Batgirl and Batgirl’s a very important member of the Birds of Prey. I know you’ve also written the script for the Batgirl movie. Was there a point a time that Batgirl was included in the Birds of Prey?

Christina Hodson: I cannot reveal anything about the past because it will give away too much about the future. So yes, I’m going to stay quiet on that one, if I may.

All right. How freeing was it to let Harley loose in the film?

Christina Hodson: So fun. That’s the one thing about Harley Quinn and doing an R-rated movie — it feels right for her. She is not a PG kind of character and it was really just great and freeing, as you say, to put her off leash and let her go wild.

Birds of Prey is very different than the other DCEU movies and it’s also the first female-team movie set in this universe. Were there any other female team-up movies or girl gang movies that inspired Birds of Prey?

Christina Hodson: No, actually not. I think most of our references were very unexpected and strange. Mostly Margot and I were just kind of inspired by the girl friends that we have and the relationships we have and wanting to see those kind of dynamics on-screen. That was always really important to Margot and is what we talked about from day one. But no, as you say, we haven’t seen enough of them on-screen, so there weren’t that many that I was drawing on. It was more just about having fun.

Were there any characters or cameos that you would’ve liked to include?

Christina Hodson: Honestly, I love the DC Universe. There’s so many characters I would’ve… if I could’ve put them all in, I would’ve. But already, we’ve got a lot of characters in this movie so I kind of wanted to spend enough time with them to be able to try and do them justice.

I know that you’re working on The Flash film. Recently, The Flash director Andy Muschietti revealed that the movie would be lightly based off of Flashpoint. Is there anything you can add to that?

Christina Hodson: No, I’m just going to let Andy be the one who says things he shouldn’t say. I’m going to be very well behaved and say “I can’t comment right now.”

You can watch the video of the full interview below.

What do you think of Hodson’s comments on Ezra Miller’s The Flash movie and Batgirl? Are you excited to see what she’s done with those characters? Let us know in the comments section!

Here is the official synopsis for Birds of Prey:

“You ever hear the one about the cop, the songbird, the psycho and the mafia princess? Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is a twisted tale told by Harley herself, as only Harley can tell it. When Gotham’s most nefariously narcissistic villain, Roman Sionis, and his zealous right-hand, Zsasz, put a target on a young girl named Cass, the city is turned upside down looking for her. Harley, Huntress, Black Canary and Renee Montoya’s paths collide, and the unlikely foursome have no choice but to team up to take Roman down.”

Directed by Cathy Yan from a script penned by Bumblebee writer Christina Hodson, Birds of Prey stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress, Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Black Canary, Ella Jay Basco as Cassandra Cain, Rosie Perez as Renee Montoya, Chris Messina as Victor Zsasz, Ewan McGregor as Black Mask, and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. Ali Wong, Robert Catrini, and Michael Masini have also been cast in undisclosed roles.

Birds of Prey will be released in theaters on February 7, 2020. Stay tuned to Heroic Hollywood for all the latest news on Birds of Prey, Ezra Miller, The Flash, Batgirl and the future of the DC Extended Universe.

Nathaniel Brail

Nathaniel Brail

Running things at HH. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @NateBrail