‘Birds Of Prey’ Producers On Harley Quinn, The Film’s R Rating & Future

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Birds of Prey producers Sue Kroll and Bryan Unkeless discuss the film’s R rating freeing Harley Quinn and the future of the girl gang.

Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey opened doors by being the first R-rated film set within the DC Extended Universe and giving the talent behind the project free reign with Harley Quinn. Harley Quinn was introduced in Batman: The Animated Series and since then, she’s been a staple in DC Comics lore. Over the years, Harley Quinn has become a little bit more edgy than she was originally intended to be, so it’s fitting that she finally gets to be in an R-rated setting for Birds of Prey.

After seeing Birds of Prey and getting to witness an R-rated Harley Quinn, Heroic Hollywood received the opportunity to talk with producers Sue Kroll and Bryan Unkeless about how freeing it was to let Harley loose and the future of the franchise. Here’s what they had to say during our interview:

This is the DC Extended Universe’s first female comic book team-up movie. It’s also rated R. What inspired the choice to make it rated R and made you confident enough to go in that direction?

Bryan Unkeless: Well, it really started with Christina Hudson and Margot Robbie, who just fell in love with these characters . They wanted to create something that was bold and truly original and they wanted to push boundaries and make it a fun ride. They didn’t want any limits to doing that. I think it was really about them just being kind of unshackled and having a lot of fun with the storytelling.

Sue Kroll: And if you think about it too, I mean Harley, right? She is this lovable psycho. Our rating allows her to be the most audacious version of herself. So, it always felt endemically like it would be an R-rated.

Was it freeing to let Harley loose?

Sue Kroll: I think so. The thing that’s wonderful about this film and about Harley is you get to see a lot of different aspects of her behavior. A lot of dimension. Everybody fell in love with Harley and Suicide Squad, but you get to see a more tender, messy and nutty version of Harley. But she’s also going through her breakup with The Joker. It’s actually very touching and emotional as well. She’s fabulously lovable all the time. So, I think it could be a movie just devoted to Harley. She’s so interesting to watch all the time.

There a lot of references to the DC Universe. Specifically Batman, but there’s also a Captain Boomerang reference. Were there any cameos or anything that you wanted to include but couldn’t?

Bryan Unkeless: No, not really. I think we were just trying to keep our mind focused on this movie, this story, doing the best job of telling this one. We love DC and have the fan base… all you have to do is go to Comic-Con and see how much it all means to the those fans. And we just want to do right by them. So we thought the best way to do it was to really focus on the script we had at hand and these characters and doing right by them throughout the process.

Sue Kroll: I think it’s always fun to have nods… to have their aspects of the world. Like Brian said, this is its own thing, but those are fun references.

Birds of Prey is distinctively different than any other DC film that Warner Bros. has put out. Were there any films that inspired it?

Bryan Unkeless: First of all, they took a page out of the comics, right? And there’s an bold, boisterous quality to Harley Quinn but also the Birds of Prey. all of those women have  a chip on their shoulder and they’re all just fantastic but also flawed. Anytime in the making of a movie, you look at other movies and you take references stylistically, but really this was taken from the comics first and foremost.

Do you have any ideas about where you are going after this?

Sue Kroll: Well, we have to get through this release and hope this does well, but this could go anywhere, I mean, they’re such interesting characters, but I think it’s really premature to say. It’s such a rich world… hopefully we get to dabble in it.

Bryan Unkeless: I’d love to see what Christina’s brilliant brain does next.

You can check out the video of the full interview below.

What do you make of these comments? Are you excited to see more of the Birds of Prey? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

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 Harley Quinn, Birds of Prey and the future of the DC Extended Universe.

Source: YouTube

Nathaniel Brail

Nathaniel Brail

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