Margot Robbie, star of Birds of Prey, has discussed her connection with her character Harley Quinn.
Despite Suicide Squad not being a particularly popular movie with fans, Margot Robbie’s performance as Harley Quinn was considered a high point, so much so that she is reprising the role once again in Birds of Prey.
But what is it about the psychotic villain that Robbie has found a connection with? Speaking to Variety, the actress discussed how she came to grips with the character:
“There’s definitely an aspect to her that took me a while to understand, and that was why she would stay in a relationship with a guy that abuses her. But that only took a little bit of research, and reading — and then something eventually clicks into place. I read the play ‘Fool For Love,’ and suddenly I understood her relationship with Mr. J in a way that I couldn’t before that.”
SEE ALSO: New trailer for Birds of Prey features Black Mask
Speaking about Harley’s mental illness, Robbie said: “[Harley is] a psychiatrist who understands mental illness, but also has mental illness herself. Schizophrenia was a big one that I focused on, because, in the original screenplay, which is always what I go to, one of the lines was, ‘It’s the voices in my head.’ So I clung on to that — it’s the voices in her head. ‘Who are the voices? What are they saying? How many voices are there, and at what times do they kick in?’ There’s amazing TED Talks from women who in a lot of cases were career professionals, they had PhDs — incredibly intelligent women who had schizophrenia. One of the women was saying how one of the voices in her head gave her all the answers to her final medical exam, for example. Just stuff like that, that I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is so great for Harley. This is fascinating!’
“Harley has this unpredictable nature that means she could react in any way to any situation, which as an actor is just a gift. Between all those things, I really just fell in love with her. ”
Harley certainly sounds like an actor’s dream in many ways and you can see why it might have appealed to Robbie. Hopefully, she can put in another interesting performance in Birds of Prey and bring the character to life once more.
Cathy Yan (Dead Pigs) is directing Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) from a script by Christina Hodson (Bumblebee) with Margot Robbie reprising her Suicide Squad role as Harley Quinn alongside Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Fargo) as The Huntress, Jurnee Smolett-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, The Tick) and Matthew Willig (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs). It is set for release on February 7th 2020.
