THR caught up with Mary to discuss Birds of Prey and her upcoming action film Kate (hitting Netflix later this year), and I’ve highlighted some of the Q&A’s below. Be sure to click the link above to read it in full:
In Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, he made the point that Bruce Wayne is Batman’s mask, figuratively speaking. With that in mind, how would you differentiate Huntress from Helena? Is Huntress her true face, a la Batman?
I think she creates Huntress from Helena. She creates Huntress from the pain that Helena has experienced in her youth. Huntress is the face she can put on to put that pain into action and turn that pain into something good in her eyes. She gets to be an avenger, she gets to have purpose and she gets to be more than just this scared little girl that she was when her family was killed in front of her. I think that’s what the character or persona of Huntress represents to her.
Physically speaking, is this the hardest job you’ve ever had?
It was up until that point. Since then, I’ve moved on and done a much more action-heavy movie [Kate] after Birds of Prey, which was great. But Birds of Prey was definitely a big, huge leap in that direction for me to really train hard with a stunt team and go beyond what I’ve done before in terms of fight training and physicality. I really loved it.
Given the women-led creative team, did you and your castmates have greater camaraderie?
Absolutely. We talked about it a lot. I remember speaking with Jurnee about how she and I have both been in the business since we were kids — well over 20 years now — and how this is the first time this has happened for either of us, which is shocking, strange and not right. But, at the same time, it’s made this experience so special, and it was such a bonding experience for all of us to go through this film together, to be in the trenches together, to be working hard together, to be putting out work that we’re proud of and to have it be our own. It feels great to not be standing behind a bunch of men, but to actually be standing in front of it as women with something that we made, something that we’re proud of and something that we put our blood, sweat and tears into.
Lots more video interviews with Mary promoting Birds of Prey with the cast have also been uploaded and you can view them after the cut.