Margot Robbie, star and producer of Warner Bros.' upcoming DC film Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), recently explained why she felt the need to pitch the upcoming female-led superhero film as an R-rated affair.
“I think there’s a perception that a PG female-led action film is kind of considered a chick flick," Robbie told Vogue.
In Birds of Prey, Robbie reprises her role as Harley Quinn from 2016's Suicide Squad. However, she notes that Harley's new wardrobe will be "less male gaze-y" when compared to the costume the character wore in her DCEU debut, saying, "That's what happens when you have a female producer, director, writer.
Elsewhere in the interview, Robbie expressed her disdain for being referred to as a "bombshell," saying, "I hate that word. I hate it -- so much."
"I feel like a brat saying that because there are worse things, but I'm not a bombshell," she continued. "I'm not someone who walks in a room and the record stops and people turn like, 'Look at that woman.' That doesn't happen. People who know me, if they had to sum me up in one word, I don't know what that word would be, but I'm certain it would not be 'bombshell.'"
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, Steven Williams, Derek Wilson, Dana Lee, Francois Chau, Charlene Amoia, Chris Messina and Matthew Willig. The film is scheduled for release on Feb. 7, 2020.