Director Cathy Yan's Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is a different take on the superhero genre compared to the other DC films. But Yan and the stars of the film, including Ella Jay Basco, who plays Cassandra Cain, made specific reference to, and drew inspiration from, the comic book source material when they broke down the characters for the movie.

Yan and Basco spoke with CBR and other media outlets what inspirations they took from the comics.

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This film is the theatrical introduction for DC characters like Renee Montoya, Huntress, Black Canary and Cassandra Cain. Yan was thrilled to introduce audiences to those characters, saying, "It's certainly a big responsibility but it's also so exciting. We tried to pay homage to all the comics, to pull from all the things we liked from the comics. It's great because we get to make unique versions of all of the characters, but have them also be so recognizable to the fans. But because so many people might not know them, that kind of allowed us to pick the best of what we wanted, which is really great."

Looking back at how the original comics inspired her takes on the DC characters, Yan specifically mentioned, "especially with Harley, we were inspired by the New 52 Harley, where she's more of an anti-hero, more on her own, when she's a derby girl."

Basco, for her part, cited the story "Behind Blue Eyes" [featured in Harley Quinn #33-37 by Andy Lieberman, Mike Huddleston, Troy Nixey and Alex Sinclair] as a big inspiration. That story centers around Harley trying to protect a girl from hitmen across the city, who want access to the vault that only the child can provide with a special code imprinted into her eyes. "That was was a great one, for the dynamic between Harley and Cassandra Cain," Basco explained.

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Basco has appeared before in television, but Birds of Prey is her big break into feature-length films. She got the chance to come to the big screen alongside major names, something Basco says, "Honestly was such an honor and I'm so grateful to be next to all the women, Margot [Robbie] and Rosie [Perez] and Jurnee [Smollett-Bell] and Mary [Elizabeth Winstead]. Me being the youngest of the group, it was a great inspiration, especially with Cathy. It was so inspiring. They were great role models, which I'm so lucky to be a part of." Yan was quick to add that Basco "did such a great job" in the film.

Another way the movie stands out from most superhero films is how it's R-rated. Most films in the genre (outside of the Deadpool films and Logan) aim instead for a more family-friendly PG-13 rating. Yan revealed, "Margot [Robbie] always pitched it as such, I think she really wanted to do it that way. I think it stems from Harley Quinn and her personality and how she's so unabashed. Thankfully that's the rating we got." When asked if the film was ever almost a different rating, she responded, "I honestly don't think so. It was never really a conversation."

Directed by Cathy Yan from a script by Christina Hodson, Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) stars Margot Robbie, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rosie Perez, Ewan McGregor, Ella Jay Basco, Steven Williams, Derek Wilson, Dana Lee, Francois Chau, Charlene Amoia, Chris Messina and Matthew Willig. The film opens Feb. 7.

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