‘Birds of Prey’ Director Cathy Yan Confirms the Film will be R-Rated

There's no denying that one of the most fundamental problems with 2016's Suicide Squad was its PG-13 rating. Nothing about those characters and that story screamed "family friendly" and the film was ultimately hurt by the less restrictive rating.

Thankfully it seems as if DC has dislodged its head from its own ass and decided that R-rated superhero movies, when appropriate, are the way to go. One such film that will ideally benefit from this is the upcoming Birds of Prey which went from having nothing more than a director and a star in, respectively, Cathy Yan and Margot Robbie, to being ready to shoot early next year in a matter of weeks.

While speaking at the US-China Entertainment Summit at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles last night, director Cathy Yan said that the film is aiming for an R-rating, something Robbie wanted from the very beginning. She's also very big on the script saying...

“I did my homework. I wouldn’t say it was easy, but it was relatively painless and straightforward. I immediately loved the script and it felt like something I could really do, and it felt very much like my own voice. I could not put the script down, it had so much dark humor to it which a lot of my work does, and there are themes of female empowerment which are so strong and relatable.

So I went in with, not with confidence, but at least a sense that I belonged in the room, that somehow magically in terms of timing and luck that this opportunity was open to me and I was definitely going to make the best of it.”

An R-rating won't necessarily make this a better movie—it wouldn't have made Suicide Squad one, that's for sure—but it definitely indicates that the studio is attempting something different this time around. Frankly, that's always a positive.

[h/t ComicBookMovie]