Birds of Prey's Margot Robbie teases a Gotham you've never seen before

We're well used to see Gotham City through the eyes of Batman, but Birds of Prey's Margot Robbie has teased that Harley Quinn's side of the Caped Crusader's home city is something fans have never seen before.

In an exclusive interview with Digital Spy, Robbie explained how Harley's unique view of the world informed the vision for Gotham in the latest Worlds of DC movie.

"We wanted it to be informed by her personality," the actress said. "We wanted the storytelling devices to reflect Harley's personality herself.

Related: Birds of Prey praised in fantabulous first reactions as fans and critics rave about Worlds of DC film

"So we have a nonlinear storyline, we jump around in time – she'll forget to introduce you to people, she'll jump in and she'll give her version of events when what you're seeing on screen is totally different.

"And in that way, it does break up that formulaic feeling because it was something I felt really tired of when I watch films, and often superhero or comic book films.

"The three-act structure was so evident to me that I knew what was going to come next and it's something we really wanted to avoid in this film."

Since it's no longer Bruce Wayne's Gotham, Robbie also explained how they wanted to show a "poppy and alive" city from the perspective of Harley and her new group of friends.

Robbie said: "We're not in swanky high rises, we are down in the gutters, we're in the alleyways.

"It's colourful, it's fun, it's loud. You're gonna hear barking dogs and traffic and they're going to be drinking margaritas and going to a club, but then also in this crazy funhouse doing a massive fight scene.

"So we wanted it to really be poppy and alive and visceral and kind of, you know, savage at times."

Birds of Prey director Cathy Yan agreed, saying how "fun" it was for them to create a Gotham motivated by Harley's vision.

"It was just really fun to create a different version of Gotham than we've seen before," she told us. "But all of it was motivated by Harley in a way. You know, she's a storyteller.

"What would the world look like through her perspective and how did the characters exist with her, and what's the right balance of that?

"So that's where it came from but it certainly was challenging and exciting to say like, 'Yeah, what's the limit of this?'"

Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) will be released in cinemas on February 7, 2020.

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Filiz Mustafa

Filiz Mustafa is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy.

Gabriella Geisinger

Gabriella Geisinger is a freelance film critic and journalist, with a focus on J-drama & film, and the Japanese production industry. She was previously Locations Editor at Screen International and Deputy Movies Editor at Digital Spy. Her writing can also befound in Curzon, 1883, and more. A born and raised New Yorker, she loves coffee and the colour black, obviously.