She successfully rebooted the Transformers franchise with the current box office hit, Bumblebee. Now screenwriter Christina Hodson, amongst other film projects, has been tasked with Warner Bros. The Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of Harley Quinn film, all of which guarantees the unexpected. With a character like DC’s favorite sexy screwball anti-hero brought to life once more by the beautiful and talented Margot Robbie from 2016’s Suicide Squad, that’s a given.
The original comic that was released in the late 90s and early 2000’s had a roster that consisted with then-Oracle Barbara Gordon, Dinah Lance/Black Canary, and Helena Bertinelli/Huntress. Since The New 52 brought Barbara back into the cape and cowl as Batgirl, the book was relaunched as part of the DC Rebirth line entitled Batgirl and The Birds of Prey. Thus far Margot has been confirmed to be joined in this project by Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress, Rosie Perez as GCPD Detective Renee Montoya, Jurnee Smollet-Bell as Black Canary, Ella Jay Bosco as Cassandra Cain, and Ewan MacGreggor as antagonist Roman Sionis/Black Mask. Ali Wong brings up the rear in an as-yet-unidentified role. Cassandra Cain in the comics is the once-mute daughter of one of Batman’s trainers and assassin David Cain, and at one time held the mantle of Batgirl with Barbara’s consent. She currently appears regularly in Detective Comics.
“Our cast is awesome, “ Hodson ecstactically affirms. “Most of it has leaked, so you already know who’s playing who. I’m super excited about the cast, about the characters. And it’s really fun and different and honestly, I think aside from the fact that, obviously, the studio would like me to not say anything, I think it’s fun not to say anything yet because that means there’s going to be whole bunch of fun little surprises for fans and for new people to the DC universe to discover.”
This is not the first live-action treatment for the team nor its individual members. The now-defunct WB Network produced a Birds of Prey series in 2002 following its success with the now-classic prequel show, Smallville. That show starred Dina Meyer (Barbara Gordon/Oracle), Ashley Scott (Helena Kyle/Huntress), and Rachel Skarsten (Dinah Lance II). Sadly, it only lasted one season. Versions of Black Canary and Huntress found new and more successful rebirths on the current CW hit series Arrow, personified by actresses Katie Cassidy and Jessica DeGou, respectively.
Filming is currently underway on Birds of Prey and The Fantabulous Emancipation of Harley Quinn with a release scheduled for February 7, 2020.
