The 2020 Warner Bros. and DC film Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) received mediocre reviews, but it has now been revealed that the original plan for the film was very different. Margot Robbie, who played the titular mad clown in the film, has divulged that the film’s villain was originally set to be the Penguin, but that this was changed at the last second to be the demon-faced Black Mask (Ewan McGregor).
Robbie revealed the news during a chat with Entertainment Weekly alongside Colin Farrell, who portrays the Penguin in the DC Studios series The Penguin after first tackling him in the 2022 film The Batman. “The first draft that Christina [Hodson] wrote of Birds of Prey, the villain was the Penguin,” Robbie said, seemingly shocking Farrell, who responded, “No way! Really?” Robbie then revealed that this was changed at the request of The Batman director Matt Reeves:
“And then Matt Reeves said, ‘Don’t use the Penguin. I’m going to use him in my thing.’ And so we swapped it to Black Mask.”
The Penguin Has More Appearances
It’s not surprising that Reeves would’ve asked the main villain in Birds of Prey to be changed, given how much the Penguin fits into his Batman universe, now considered part of DC Studios’ ‘Elseworlds’ tales. While Farrell’s Penguin was first seen on-screen in The Batman, where he went toe-to-toe with Robert Pattinson’s Caped Crusader, it was his titular television show that had people seeing the character in a new light.
But it wouldn’t undoubtedly been interesting to see the Penguin in Birds of Prey, which was considered a box office bomb and yet another disappointing entry in the now-defunct DC Extended Universe. Perhaps the Penguin would’ve provided a more substantial enemy for Harley Quinn to swing her mallet at — but viewers will be able to see him on the big screen again when The Batman: Part II is released in 2027.
Birds of Prey is streaming now.
Birds of Prey
- Release Date
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February 7, 2020
- Runtime
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109 minutes
- Director
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Cathy Yan
