I think it’s fair to say that Warner Bros. has totally fucked up the DCEU. They’ve got the most popular comic book heroes in the world, but have managed, at best, one undeniably good movie and a bunch of mediocre to bad ones. But if there’s a definite highlight it’s the performance of Margot Robbie in the surprisingly robust Suicide Squad. She’s been pegged for a number of different spinoffs ever since, but now the “main” one has just taken a big step forward with an actual director.
In an unexpected move, indie filmmaker Cathy Yan has been set to direct the Harley Quinn spinoff based on the Birds of Prey comic. Yan is a newcomer to the biz, having made her directorial debut at Sundance with Dead Pigs, a Chinese film that starred Deadpool 2‘s Zazie Beetz. The film was well received and Yan eyed as a potential breakout. Well, here she is with a much bigger gig.
Birds of Prey is an all-female team created in 1995 and has usually included Oracle/Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, Huntress, and Black Canary as the core membership. Just how close to the comic the movie will stick is unclear but expect Harley Quinn to be the central figure. Christina Hodson, the red-hot writer recently hired to pen Batgirl, will write this as well.
There have been so many shakeups within the DCEU that I can’t keep track but I think this is the project formerly known as Gotham City Sirens? Or maybe not? Last we heard of that it was being replaced by a David Ayer-directed Harley Quinn/Joker spinoff that nobody’s talking about anymore. So maybe somebody else can clue me in if I went off-course here.
I think this is a really brilliant move on WB’s part. Yan becomes the first Asian woman to direct a DCEU film, which is sure to get them some attention, and you can see them moving further away from the Zack Snyder era with this move. That’s what people want to see more evidence of. [THR]
