With the notable exception of Robert Downey Jr., who was integral to building the character of Tony Stark from the ground up with director Jon Favreau as effectively an extension of his own personality, it usually takes a movie or two for a star to put their own stamp on a superhero role and get a major say in their creative direction.
The longer Hugh Jackman played Wolverine the more you could feel his influence, and the same goes for many others including Chris Evans’ Captain America, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman and even Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool, with the actor only joining X-Men Origins: Wolverine to make his debut so that Fox didn’t cast somebody else in the part.
With The Suicide Squad marking Margot Robbie’s third outing as Harley Quinn, it would be reasonable to expect that she’s got some degree of control over the direction of the fan favorite, especially when the actress takes top billing among the cast and also produced Birds of Prey. However, in a new interview the two-time Academy Award nominee surprisingly revealed that for the most part, she just does what she’s told.
“I don’t really have that much authorship over where they take her. I mean, on Birds Of Prey I was a producer, so I had more of a say, but I felt very confident in James Gunn’s hands that she was going to be handled with respect to the character and the fan base, because he understands that, you know? So I was as curious as anyone opening that script up to see like, ‘Okay, what’s his version of Harley and what’s she like?’.”
Having played Harley Quinn under three different directors in a trio of projects that experienced both the highs and lows of critical and commercial success, Robbie arguably understands the former Harleen Quinzell better than anybody else in the DCEU. Of course, everybody has a boss that they need to answer to at the end of the day, and even one of the most acclaimed young talents in Hollywood doesn’t quite have the authority to put her foot down when something isn’t to her liking. At least not yet, anyway.
