Now that Mary has landed the role of The Huntress in DC’s Birds of Prey opposite Margot Robbie, Mary is able to talk a little about playing the character of Helena Berinelli. Here is what she dished to The Wrap:
“I’m going to start training, and I’ll be learning how to shoot a bow and arrow, too — which is new for me.” She continued:
“I can’t say that I was a huge comic book reader. But when I met with Cathy Yan, who’s directing the film, and learned kind of the back story of the character, I was really interested,” added the actress. “It’s a really strong, kind of emotional place to start from for a superhero character. I won’t go into too much detail now, but I think it’s interesting and an opportunity to do something cool with this kind of character,” she said.
The film will be directed by Cathy Yan with a screenplay by Christina Hodson, who is also writing “Batgirl” and Winstead is happy to be on a set that will be more female driven: “It’s really exciting, and even the process of going through getting the role and everything was a very different experience than I’ve typically been through,” Winstead said. “Being with the other actresses and a female director and just the whole energy behind this is so unique, so I’m really happy about that.”
Mary also spoke with The Observer about how the film could change the superhero genre:
“I think it opens it up to a new perspective and artistic energy that I think is needed in that world,” she said. “That’s not to say that the films that have already come along aren’t good or valid or worthy in their own way. But I think more perspectives in every aspect are needed.” She continued… “I think the perspective is really interesting and different for a superhero film in that sense…And the idea of suiting up into a superhero suit and it being from the female gaze is really interesting.”