Cathy Yan To Direct Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn/’Birds Of Prey’ Movie For DC Film

With Margot Robbie incredible performance as Harley Quinn in the 2016 superhero blockbuster Suicide Squad, fans will soon be treated to an entire spin-off film dedicated to the breakout character.

Warner Bros.

Margot Robbie will feature as Harley Quinn again and the movie is slated to be directed by Cathy Yan, making her the first Asian-American woman to direct a major movie set in the DC superhero universe. News of the hire was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.

Although many details of the film are not yet known, it will reportedly be produced in part by Robbie’s LuckyChap Entertainment production company, with Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment also being involved with the upcoming production.

The upcoming film is based on the Birds of Prey DC Comic and is being pitched as a ‘Harley Quinn girl gang movie’ by the producers. Christina Hodson, who wrote the upcoming Bumblebee movie set the in Transformers universe, has been hired to helm the script.

What separates this Harley Quinn project from Suicide Squad 2, Harley vs. the Joker or Gotham City Sirens is that it’s one that the fans want to see. There is obviously an interest in Suicide Squad 2?

Yan’s attachment to the upcoming movie comes as Hollywood pushes to diversify its film casts and crews, often through the use of ‘inclusion riders.’

Who is Cathy Yan?

Cathy Yan is a film director, screenwriter and producer set to direct the planned Harley Quinn spin-off movie.

Yan was born in China and later raised in Hong Kong and Washington, D.C. After graduating from Princeton University, she obtained an MBA and an MFA from New York University in New York City. Upon graduating, she worked as a journalist for the Wall Street Journal in New York, Beijing and Hong Kong before following her dreams as a filmmaker.

She created several short films and debuted her feature film Dead Pigs earlier this year at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. She was recently selected to direct a Harley Quinn movie based on the Birds of Prey comic, making her the first woman of Asian descent to direct a DC Films movie.