With the hoopla surrounding Robert Pattinson’s casting in a new Batman film and Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker trailer, there’s been a lack of updates about DC’s other upcoming film Birds of Prey. A whole new ensemble appears in this next installment including Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Ewan McGregor. In a recent interview with Vogue, star Margot Robbie provides some new intel about the film and gives us hints of what’s to come.
After Suicide Squad‘s mostly-male ensemble was a hit or miss with audiences, Birds of Prey is following up with a wider range of women with less objectifying outfits. Harley Quinn’s costume design was one of the more memorable parts of Suicide Squad, but was also criticized for the lack of coverage and practicality compared to other characters in the film. Wonder Woman was praised for improving on this typical phenomenon of scantily-clad women heroes, but it takes more and more films to keep that trend growing and improving.
Robbie and costume designer Erin Benach and not unaware of this and endeavored to give Harley Quinn a more diversified look that still aligns with her character, without turning her into a sex object. Benach claims, in the Vogue article with Robbie, that working with a crew of women in the directing, producing, and writing chairs really does make a difference in the freedom she has to dress characters in the ways that truly fit their character rather than just for spectacle.
Robbie adds that they aren’t pulling punches with Birds and that she is fighting for an R-rating. Warner Bros. is allegedly not on board with this, but Robbie, as an executive producer, is arguing otherwise.
The short teaser below shows the whole new style the film will be bringing to the characters, with new iconic looks for Harley Quinn. Birds of Prey is set for release February 7, 2020.