FOR Variety’s Jan. 2 cover story on her, Margot Robbie talked extensively about her passion project “Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn.” Her company, LuckyChap Entertainment, produced the US$75 million film set to be released in North America on Feb. 7.

Robbie plays Harley Quinn in “Birds of Prey,” which was written by Christina Hodson, directed by Cathy Yan and produced by Robbie and Sue Kroll, an all-women ensemble.

“I’d been thinking for quite some time how there was a real gap in the market for a female ensemble action film. And I love action films, and I think there’s a misconception perhaps subconsciously for people: Action films are for dudes and girls don’t really like them, which is just not true,” said Robbie.

The star also talked about how she grew to understand Harley and hiring director Yan.

“Harley is an easy character to insert into almost any situation, because no matter what, she’s gonna just stir up. And I wanted to do an R-rated film, which took a bit of convincing because at that point ‘Deadpool’ wasn’t out. So it’s surprising, and it’s fun — and it’s told from Harley’s point of view. So you’ve got a very unreliable narrator giving terrible advice and an inaccurate account of events, quite often contradicting what you’re seeing on screen,” she said.

In “Birds of Prey,” Harley has left the Joker. When Roman Sionis, a narcissistic crime lord, places a hit on a young girl named Cassandra Cain, Gotham City turns upside down looking for her. Harley joins forces with Black Canary, Helena Bertinelli and Renee Montoya to protect the girl and to take Sionis down.

“Our world in ‘Birds of Prey’ is very different — the aesthetic, the tone. Ours is certainly a heightened reality. There’s a clear distinction between real life and what you’re experiencing on the screen. I feel like the ‘Joker’ film was much more grounded. Ours is different.,” said Robbie.

Robbie has spent three years working on “Birds of Prey” and continued to present it to Warner Bros. until the studio felt the project was at the point it could be made. By April 2018, Warner Bros. and DC Films had finalized a deal with Yan to direct, making her the first female Asian director to direct a superhero film.

“With everything LuckyChap does, we put in way more effort looking into female creators for our projects. We can put together a list of male creators but to come up with a female list takes longer because they haven’t had the same opportunities. We have spoken to many high-level male directors, but they weren’t right for it the way Cathy was,” said Robbie.(SD-Agencies)