Cathy Yan to Direct DC’s BIRDS OF PREY

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What a difference a week makes.

Last week, we reported that Bumblebee scribe Christina Hodson was writing the script for DC’s Batgirl after finishing the script for the Birds of Prey movie. After that news dropped, The Wrap’s Umberto Gonzalez noted on Twitter that Hodson’s Birds of Prey script impressed Warner Bros. and DC and it was being sent out to directors.

Today, Deadline has reported that Cathy Yan will direct DC’s Birds of Prey, with Margot Robbie set to return as Harley Quinn, and the project is set for a late 2018/early 2019 production start. The film will mark the first superhero film to be directed by an Asian woman and Yan will be the third female director to join DC’s ranks after Wonder Woman’s Patty Jenkins and New Gods’ Ava DuVernay.

According to Deadline, Yan’s pitch for BOP impressed the studio enough that they offered her the film, despite only having one other film, Dead Pigs, on her resume. The publication also noted that Robbie, who is also a producer on the film, was very adamant about the studio getting a female director for the project.

For those wondering what this means for the other Harley Quinn-central projects, Robbie is still set to be in Gavin O’Conner’s Suicide Squad 2, which is rumored to start shooting this fall, while Joker & Harley and David Ayer’s Gotham City Sirens are on the backburner for the time being.

This is a big move for WB and DC as they are continuing the movement of giving big-budget superhero movies to female talent. While it’s a gamble to give a film with this type of budget to an indie director, the studio’s decision to pick Yan shows their commitment to return to “director-driven” films and to give female directors more opportunities at franchise flicks.

The question now is what else do DC Films president Walter Hamada and DC guru Geoff Johns have up their sleeves for the future of the DC franchise?

Sources: Deadline/Umberto Gonzalez