Margot Robbie hints at more female action movies at 'Birds of Prey' premiere

LONDON: Australian actress Margot Robbie hinted that her new female-led action film Birds of Prey could be the first in a series of movies as she reprised the role of comic antihero Harley Quinn in what she has called a passion project.

Robbie, 29, who has been nominated this year for two BAFTAs and an Oscar, was on the red carpet for the world premiere of Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn,” to give it its full name, in London on Wednesday.

Having pitched the idea of a female-led superhero action movie to Warner Bros, Robbie also produced it, bringing Harley Quinn, a character from the Batman stories created by DC Comics, to center stage.

Asked if Birds of Prey was the first in a series of outings for Quinn and the other female characters, amongst them Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress and Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Black Canary, Robbie did not rule it out.

“I, of course, have big wishes for many things we could do in the DC (DC Comics) universe, but no, nothing official,” she said when asked if “Birds of Prey” was the first of a series.

The experience had been a blast, she added.

“I love acting, I love producing, and in this instance doing both at the same time, I felt, yeah, it kind of worked really smoothly because there were amazing people around me.”

In the movie, Harley Quinn, whom Robbie played in the 2016 film Suicide Squad, tells what happens after she breaks up with the Joker and finds that a lot of people hold grievances against her and want her dead – among them supervillain Black Mask, played by Ewan McGregor.

Wearing a black feathered crop top, long black skirt and bright pink gloves on the red carpet, Robbie said she was looking forward to seeing people’s reactions to the movie.

“Incredibly proud and incredibly nervous, you never know how it’s going to go,” she said when asked how she was feeling.

The movie is directed by Cathy Yan and will be released globally in early February.