Margot Robbie says The Penguin was original Birds of Prey villain

After making her debut in Suicide Squad, Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn took center stage in her own movie. Birds of Prey found Dr. Quinzel joining forces with The Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), and Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez) to bring down Black Mask (Ewan McGregor). However, Robbie told Colin Farrell (via Entertainment Weekly) that The Penguin was supposed to be the main villain of Birds of Prey, until The Batman director Matt Reeves asked them not to.

“The first draft that Christina [Hodson] wrote of Birds of Prey, the villain was the Penguin,” Robbie said. “And then [director/writer] Matt Reeves said, ‘Don’t use the Penguin. I’m going to use him in my thing.’ And so we swapped it to Black Mask.“

Robbie teased that Penguin was “amazing” in the script, and Farrell asked if she still had a copy. “Yeah, it’s probably on my computer,” she said. “You could read it.“

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“Oh, good, I’d love to [read it,” he said. “That’d be so fascinating.“

Although Farrell is expected to return to play Oz in The Batman sequel (and another season of The Penguin is also possible), Robbie’s future as Harley Quinn is unknown. DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn recently teased that Robbie’s place in the DCU “will be revealed down the line.” While speaking with Variety, Robbie said she hasn’t heard anything about any future projects, but added that she would love to see how other actors portray the character. “I feel like I need to share Harley,” she said.

Although Birds of Prey did receive largely positive reviews upon its release in 2020, it was deemed a box-office disappointment. It grossed $205 million worldwide, which certainly isn’t bad for an R-rated flick, but Warner Bros. reportedly had much higher expectations for the movie. “I know that the studio had really high expectations for the movie — as we all did,” said director Cathy Yan. “There were also undue expectations on a female-led movie, and what I was most disappointed in was this idea that perhaps it proved that we weren’t ready for this yet.“

Would The Penguin have been a better villain for Birds of Prey?

Source: Entertainment Weekly

Tags: Birds of Prey, Colin Farrell, Margot Robbie

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