When we think of perfect comic-book casting we think of Michael Keaton as Batman and, yes, Ben Affleck too, we think of Christopher Reeve as Superman, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Robert Downey Jnr as Iron and now, yes, we’d add Margot Robbie in there as Harley Quinn.
The star first appeared in David Ayer’s criminally maligned The Suicide Squad, then the pretty bad Birds of Prey and now she’s back for The Suicide Squad and across those three movies, even when they’re not as great as they should be, she was pitch-perfect.
And it seems that The Suicide Squad writer/director James Gunn agrees and may have aspirations to make his own standalone Harley movie.
When asked if he’d like to see her go solo in a movie made by him, his response was pretty enthusiastic: “Yeah, I think I do, actually.
“I really feel that character, and as I’ve said before, I’ve taken a lot of characters from the comic books who either have slightly different personalities or not as clearly defined personalities. I’ve really shied away from the really popular characters because I like creating characters. I don’t generally like interpreting characters that are already fully actualized, but with Harley, that was a different thing. I really do love Paul Dini’s original vision, and I felt like I was able to become Harley while I was writing. And it’s a terrible, wonderful place to be.”
The beauty of Harley, much like the Joker, is that she lends herself to serious, scary, funny… whatever the story needs, the character can become – Kevin Smith once remarked about the Joker that one day he could decide he wants to steal sweets from kids but tomorrow he may decide to nuke a city. Harley is the same.
As for Margot Robbie, it seems Gunn holds her in very high esteem: “What’s so great about Margot is that she’s just so good on so many different fronts. She’s a fantastic actor, she’s a fantastic comedian, and she’s a fantastic athlete. And being able to create Harley with all of those different qualities makes it very easy for me.
“But there were adjustments, too. This movie is different. It really is more of a naturalistic acting style than what she’s done as Harley in the past. So there were some adjustments to be made to her performance and to the character. It wasn’t like she came in 100 percent ready to go, but it was a balance between what I was doing and what she was doing. So I just love working with her. She’s a great person, who doesn’t have an ego.”
It may seem off-the-cuff, and unlikely given how Birds of Prey performed, but something tells me that if Gunn gets his way, we’ll see a Harley Quinn movie with Robbie leading it under Gunn’s guiding hand. And I’m very ok with that.
Thoughts?
Source: THR
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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