Birds of Prey‘s full subtitle may have taken DC fans by surprise when it was announced, but it sounds like it had been in the works for quite a while.
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In a recent interview with Collider, screenwriter Christina Hodson addressed the film’s full title, which is Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). While some have wondered in recent weeks exactly where that subtitle came from, Hodson revealed that she’d initially had the idea while penning the script.
“I don’t know if I’m officially allowed to say, but there’s no reason why not.” Hodson explained. “It was an unofficial aka, when I wrote the script. I added it about a year or so ago, almost exactly as it is, just as an aka. I didn’t think we’d ever use it. We’d always used a working title, so I just had it as a cheeky little thing, on the front cover. And then, when we were talking about a title and brainstorming, we all kept drifting back to that one.”
While the full Birds of Prey title was met with a bit of confusion when star Margot Robbie first announced it on social media, fans (and even Harley’s co-creator) have praised it in one way or another. And as Robbie revealed during a recent talk show appearance, she’d been particularly drawn to the title as well.
“That’s real.” Robbie revealed. “Yeah, that’s the title. It’s not going to be … It’s not a very serious movie. Birds of Prey makes it sound very serious, and then that [subtitle is] Harley kind of going ‘Hey, here I am.’”
“I love a long title.” Robbie explained. “I said that when we were trying to come up with the title, ‘Did you ever see The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared?’ …It’s a long title, but I love it.”
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) will see Robbie’s Harley Quinn teaming up with Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), as they attempt to rescue Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco) from the villainous Black Mask (Ewan McGregor).
“This, I can say: [Robbie] is an amazing producer,” Hodson explained in a previous interview. “She’s so dedicated, cares so much, she is in it and works so hard — looks through every choice, reads through every draft, and has super-smart notes. I am all about finding good people you believe in as human beings as well as being good creative partners and producers, because it’s an investment — writing these movies takes it out of you. I’m also just excited that [director Cathy Yan] is a woman and she’s Asian. That’s a big deal.”
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) will debut on February 7, 2020. Other upcoming DC films include Aquaman on December 21st, Shazam on April 5, 2019, Joker on October 10, 2019, and Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5, 2020.
