Article by Eric Lee
Harley Quinn actress Margot Robbie has revealed that Huntress initially was to be the main lead in Birds of Prey.
Birds of Prey Origins
During a set visit by Collider, Robbie discussed how she got hooked on Birds of Prey. She wanted Harley to hang out with a gang of other females. Fortunately, the Birds of Prey team fit that bill. Here she speaks about the origins of the project:
Well, I first actually pitched the notion when we were actually still shooting Suicide Squad, [be]cause I kept saying like, “Oh, Harley does so much better when she has people to play with.” I kept thinking that in real life I had such a girl gang, like my group of girlfriends, and I just want Harley to have a girl gang. I just want it to be like a girl gang for Harley to be a part of. And then obviously I’d been reading a ton of the comics, anything involving Harley. And one of the separate line of comics is the Birds of Prey, which I started reading. [sic] Harley’s not a traditional member of the Birds of Prey, but it was a fun kind of girl gang to kind of dip in and out of, I suppose.
Huntress is the Leader
Robbie’s insistence to make a Birds of Prey film initially led to an interest in Huntress.
It really started with Huntress. I just loved Huntress, and with my initial pitch on the story, I said I wanted to keep it quite contained, get no bigger, and no world-ending stakes. Like the stakes were as big as perhaps mafia level or gang level. That’s when I started reading a lot of Huntress comics, obviously coming from a mafia family, and found her story. Plus, I always gravitate… well, not always, but I do often gravitate towards a revenge story because it’s so straight forward, but you are so clearly motivated.
A fascinating insight into the pitching process, right? The fact that Robbie’s persistence and will made Birds of Prey real is amazing.
Birds Of Prey hits theaters on February 7, 2020.