For her pitch first meeting with Warner Bros., Birds of Prey director Cathy Yan put together a "sizzle reel", which featured misogynistic comments made by President Donald Trump.
According to The New Yorker, Yan created her sizzle reel using video clips that exhibited misogynistic behavior, with a remix of the song "Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend" played in the background. "Like, scenes from ‘Bachelor’ proposals, the De Beers diamond commercial, Kim Kardashian’s vampire facial, Fox anchors talking about women, Trump saying ‘Grab ’em by the pussy’ —stuff that might make a girl want to smash the patriarchy," Yan said of the clips she included in the reel. “After I showed the video, there was just silence.”
Starring Margot Robbie reprising her role as Harley Quinn, Birds of Prey was praised for how it presented the misogyny that many women experience. Despite having the lowest-grossing opening weekend of any DC Extended Universe film, Birds of Prey has done well among critics and audience members.
The first movie Yan directed was a comedy-drama film entitled Dead Pigs, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Currently, she's working on an A24 film called Sour Hearts, which is based on a collection of short stories by Jenny Zhang.
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 is now in theaters.