Birds of Prey Writer Says Title Was Written as a Lark

Birds of Prey writer Christina Hodson discussed the headline-grabbing title for the upcoming Birds of Prey film in a new interview. Hodson told Collider that Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) wasn’t originally an official title, and was something she’d written on the front cover of the script as a lark.

“I don’t know if I’m officially allowed to say, but there’s no reason why not,” Hodson said. “It was an unofficial aka when I wrote the script. I added it about a year or so ago, almost exactly as it is, just as an aka. I didn’t think we’d ever use it. We’d always used a working title, so I just had it as a cheeky little thing, on the front cover. And then, when we were talking about a title and brainstorming, we all kept drifting back to that one.”

Hodson also discussed her upcoming Batgirl film, which she is set to write after Joss Whedon dropped out earlier this year. When asked about what excited her about the character, Hodson said, “Many things, but I’m not allowed to talk about that, at all. She’s cool. With all of these characters – the ones that I’m creating and that are original, like Charlie, and the ones I’m getting to inherit and play with – they’re independent, intelligent, capable, interesting and nuanced, and nuanced really is the main thing. They’re not one thing or another. They are flawed, complex, beautiful, wonderful, weird, and fully rounded and fully fleshed out characters. We’ve got so many great actresses out there, that are ready to play these roles, that it’s fun to be writing roles for them.”

Birds of Prey will release in theaters on February 7th, 2020.