One of the most praised elements of the comic book movie Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) was its action sequences which were brought to life by John Wick director Chad Stahelski and his team at 87eleven.
Now, in an interview with ComicBook.com, Stahelski detailed how he was hired for the role on the Warner Brothers/DC film while confirming his team helped bring two action sequences to fruition.
“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.”
Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is a twisted tale told by Harley herself, as only Harley can tell it. When Gotham’s most nefariously narcissistic villain, Roman Sionis, and his zealous right-hand, Zsasz, put a target on a young girl named Cass, the city is turned upside down looking for her. Harley, Huntress, Black Canary and Renee Montoya’s paths collide, and the unlikely foursome have no choice but to team up to take Roman down.
Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is directed by Cathy Yan (Dead Pigs) from a script by Christina Hodson (Bumblebee) and sees Margot Robbie reprising her Suicide Squad role as Harley Quinn alongside Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Fargo) as The Huntress, Jurnee Smollett-Bell (Underground) as Black Canary, Rosie Perez (Fearless) as Renee Montoya, Ella Jay Basco (Grey’s Anatomy) as Cassandra Cain, Ewan McGregor (Christopher Robin) as Black Mask, Chris Messina (Sharp Objects) as Victor Zsasz, Ali Wong (Black Box), Robert Catrini (Jack Reacher: Never Go Back), Steven Williams (The Chi), Dana Lee (Dr. Ken), Francois Chau (The Expanse) and Matthew Willig (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs).
