Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) drew quite a few comparisons to the Deadpool films leading up to and following its release. The biggest comparison was that both Harley Quinn and Wade Wilson often break the fourth wall to address the audience.
However, Birds of Prey director Cathy Yan isn't concerned. She laughed off the comparison, saying that it was true to Harley's character.
"The entire concept of the movie was very much like “This is Harley Quinn’s story, and this is the way she’s telling the story," Yan said in an interview with THR. "It’s going to be wacky, crazy and jump around in time, and it’s not going to make sense until it does.”
She went on to talk about why the idea appealed to her: "All of that was this wonderful concept that I fell in love with in the script because it was like, 'Oh, wow, you’re actually playing with form in a way that is grounded in character.' It’s so exciting to be able to tell a story and make a movie through Harley Quinn’s eyes. So, breaking the fourth wall was just an element of that."
Wan also confirmed that the film was intended to be R-rated from inception, and stemmed from what star Margot Robbie and screenwriter Christina Hodson intended to do with the movie.
Directed by Cathy Yan and written by Christina Hudson, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) stars Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Rosie Perez, Chris Messina, Ella Jay Basco and Ewan McGregor. The film is now available on video-on-demand.