Margot Robbie revealed in a new interview that The Penguin was originally the villain of her 2020 DC film “Birds of Prey” before “The Batman” filmmaker Matt Reeves asked her to use a different DC Comics character.
Robbie revealed as much during an Entertainment Weekly interview with Colin Farrell published Friday. The two actors star together in the upcoming, Kogonada-directed fantasy romance “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey.”
Robbie has, of course, played Dr. Harleen Quinzel, aka Harley Quinn, off-and-on since 2016’s “Suicide Squad.” Farrell, meanwhile, made his debut as The Penguin in Reeves’ 2022 DC crime epic “The Batman,” and he later reprised the role again last year to widespread critical acclaim in HBO’s “The Penguin.” He won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of the character in that limited series and earned an Emmy nomination for it this year as well.
According to Robbie, however, a version of The Penguin almost appeared on the big screen two years before Farrell’s interpretation. “The first draft that Christina [Hodson] wrote of ‘Birds of Prey,’ the villain was the Penguin,” Robbie told Farrell during their EW interview, much to her co-star’s shock. “No way!” Farrell responded. “Really?”
Instead of The Penguin, fellow DC Comics crime lord Roman Sionis, aka Black Mask, was used as the villain in “Birds of Prey,” where he was played by “Obi-Wan Kenobi” actor Ewan McGregor. That change was apparently due to a request personally made by Reeves himself.
“Matt Reeves said, ‘Don’t use the Penguin. I’m going to use him in my thing,’” Robbie explained. “So we swapped it to Black Mask.” Farrell, for his part, was quick to ask Robbie, “How was her Penguin?,” to which his co-star teased that Hodson’s take on the character was “amazing.”
Farrell asked Robbie if she still had a copy of Hodson’s original “Birds of Prey” script. “Yeah, it’s probably on my computer,” she replied. “You could read it.”
“Oh, good, I’d love to [read it],” Farrell enthusiastically responded, asking Robbie to send him a copy of the unused script. “That’d be so fascinating.”
Farrell is expected to reprise his role as The Penguin again opposite Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne in Reeves’ long-delayed, highly anticipated “The Batman Part II,” which is set to hit theaters on Oct. 1, 2027. Robbie’s future as Harley Quinn is, conversely, unclear right now.
The actress’ iteration of the character was originally introduced in the now-dead, Zack Snyder-led DC Extended Universe, so even though current DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn directed Robbie as Harley Quinn in 2021’s “The Suicide Squad,” it still is not a certainty that she will ever return as the character in Gunn’s new DC Universe.
The “Guardians of the Galaxy” filmmaker has proven already that he is willing to bring DCEU characters into the DCU (see: “Peacemaker” Season 2), but there is no telling whether or not that opportunity will be afforded to Robbie’s Harley.
Despite their shared comic book movie pasts, both Robbie and Farrell realized during their EW conversation that they had never actually talked about their DC characters with each other before. “I don’t think it came up once,” Farrell revealed. “No, we never mentioned, never spoke about it at all.”
“We’ve done so much talking, and I don’t think we’ve ever [discussed that],” Robbie added. “That’s so weird.”
Unfortunately, even if Robbie does return as Harley Quinn in Gunn’s DC Universe, it is unlikely that she will ever get to cross paths onscreen as the character with Farrell’s Penguin, as his version of the comic book villain exists solely right now in Reeves’ separate, standalone Batman cinematic universe.
“A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” hits theaters on Sept. 19.
