Margot Robbie Didn’t Understand Harley Quinn and Joker’s Suicide Squad Romance

Margot Robbie is particularly excited to explore the emancipated version of hey Harley Quinn character in Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) after the relationship between her character and Jared Leto’s Joker in Suicide Squad left her a bit confused. The film left much to be desired between the two characters when their relationship was portrayed on the big screen for the first time. While visiting the set of the upcoming Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), ComicBook.com heard from Robbie that she, too, was a bit confused by the relationship.

The theme of the set visit seemed to be that Birds of Prey will not connect to Suicide Squad in any major ways aside from Robbie playing the role of Harley Quinn. Robbie, getting candid with reporters on set, opened up about her experience looking back.

“The first film, is that her relationship with Joker always did confuse me the most,” Robbie said. “That was the thing that took me the longest to get my head around. In this film though we’re exploring her not being with Joker. And I actually understand the break-up. That’s something I feel like everyone can kind of understand and relate to in some ways. Though she deals with–like she blows things up, I don’t do that. I understand the motivation that spurred on that train of thought.”

As for when the two movies take place by comparison to each other: “There is not any known amount of time” between the two movies according to director Cathy Yan. “We kind of exist in a parallel timeline.” In this film, Harley is quite different by comparison to her first big screen appearance. Her hair is different. Her costume is different. Her language is R-rated, so that’s different, too. Yan promises she is “recognizable”” but admits that even her white skin is “less thickly white.”

“I think something I explored a lot in Suicide Squad, the first film, was Harley’s co-dependence with the Joker,” Robbie said. “And obviously, he has a huge influence on her. But, obviously, she was very much in a relationship with him when we first saw Harley onscreen in Suicide Squad. And I did want to explore what is the version of Harley out of a relationship, and whether she’s out of a relationship on her own accord or he’s kind of kicked her to the curb. But it still affects her, but in a very different way. And I thought we’d see a very different facet of her personalities. Personalities, I would say. Because I think she has multiple.”

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) hits theaters on February 13, 2020.