John Wick Director Talks Working on Birds of Prey’s Action Scenes

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) debuted in theaters earlier this year, bringing an unexpected take on the comic book movie world along with it. The film united Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn with some of DC Comics’ best heroines, in an action-packed and genre-bending journey. One of the most praised elements of Birds of Prey was its action sequences, which were partially brought to life by John Wick director Chad Stahelski. In a recent interview with ComicBook.com, Stahelski detailed what his role on Birds of Prey was, and confirmed that he was brought on relatively late in the film’s process to “punch up” one action sequence, and also add an additional one.

“I’m friends with a lot of guys at Warner Brothers,” Stahelski explained. I was friends with some of the cast. Honestly, they had shot pretty much all the movie. Cathy [Yan], the director, and Warner Brothers felt like they wanted to punch up one of their action scenes and add a secondary scene. Because of my relationship with some of the guys at Warner Brothers, they asked, ‘Hey’ … It was more like, ‘If you’re not doing anything, we know you’re directing, but if you’re not doing anything, would you like to sit down and do some riffing with Cathy, her creative team and, and Warner Brothers?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, sounds fun. I’m a big fan of Margot Robbie’s. I’d love to.’ I love Walter Hamada, who was the one running at the time, and Toby at Warner Brothers. They’re all great people.”

“So we set out. We ran some ideas. We came up with some thoughts,” Stahelski explained. “Again, brought my team in, helped choreograph it. And just really collectively, we all developed the two sequences that we were brought in for and just helped them bring it to fruition.”

It’s safe to say that Stahelski’s work on the film paid off, both for Birds of Prey viewers and for the cast itself. In a recent interview, Black Canary actress Jurnee Smollett-Bell was asked if she would want to work with Stahelski on another project, which she had a pretty enthusiastic response to.

“Hell yeah,” Smollett-Bell revealed. “I love the 87eleven team and Chad. I would love to actually work with Chad, that’s for sure on my bucket list. He has such a gift for telling the narrative through these really inventive action sequences. The chance to work with 87eleven and do these things, yes, absolutely, absolutely.”

Birds of Prey is now available on home media, and to stream on HBO Max.