‘Birds of Prey’ Adds ‘Venom’ and ‘Iron Man’ Cinematographer

DC Films’ Birds of Prey might be bringing a comic book movie veteran onto its crew.

In a recent interview with GMA News Online, Matthew Libatique revealed that he is in “early discussions” to serve as cinematographer for Birds of Prey. While hinting that the film’s title might evolve as production goes along, Libatique mentioned exactly what drew him to the project.

“It’s with Warner Brothers, and the director is Cathy Yen.” Libatique explained. “Who directed a film called Dead Pigs which is a Chinese film. I’m excited. It’s, in the superheroes genre but this time it’s in the DC universe, not the Marvel universe. Margot Robbie is set to star and I’m excited for that. And then it has a little bit of origin story in it, so it makes it intriguing and it’s very early though, so early discussions.”

While previous rumors had hinted that Birds would employ an all-female crew, it isn’t hard to see why Libatique is being brought on board. His prolific filmography includes A Star is Born, Mother!, Straight Outta Compton, and an Oscar-nominated turn on Black Swan. This would mark the latest comic book movie for the cinematographer, with him previously working on Josie and the Pussycats, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and most recently Venom.

Birds of Prey will see Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) joining forces with Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), as they attempt to help rescue Cassandra Cain from the villainous mob boss Black Mask.

“I pitched the idea of an R-rated girl gang film including Harley, because I was like, ‘Harley needs friends.’ Harley loves interacting with people, so don’t ever make her do a standalone film,” Robbie said of the film last year. “She’s got to be with other people, it should be a girl gang. I wasn’t seeing enough girl gangs on screen, especially in the action space. So that was always a big part of it.”

“It’s really exciting, and even the process of going through getting the role and everything was a very different experience than I’ve typically been through,” Winstead explained shortly after being cast. “Being with the other actresses and a female director and just the whole energy behind this is so unique, so I’m really happy about that.”

The film is expected to begin filming in January of next year, under the working title of “Fox Force Five”.

Are you excited to see Libatique lend his talents to the DC Extended Universe? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

Upcoming DC films include Aquaman on December 21st, Shazam on April 5, 2019, Joker on October 10, 2019, Birds of Prey on February 7, 2020, and Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5, 2020.