'Birds Of Prey' Is Officially Rated R For "Strong Violence" And More Naughty Stuff

It's official: Birds of Prey is rated R. It was all but confirmed that the DC film featuring Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn would earn an R rating, and Robbie herself talked about how the film was made with that rating in mind. But still, there was always a chance that DC and Warner Bros. might get cold feet and cut the film down for a PG-13. But after the huge box office success of the R-rated Joker, the studio is clearly more willing to take a chance.

The official MPAA rating for Birds of Prey is in, and yes, it's rated R. The film earned that adult rating due to "strong violence and language throughout, and some sexual and drug material." So remember to bring the kids! During a /Film set visit, Margot Robbie talked a bit about how freeing it was to make Birds of Prey with an R rating in mind.

"I did feel like I had to censor myself a lot, obviously to suit a PG rating," Robbie said, referring to her role in Suicide Squad. "And a lot of the characters that exist in the DC world, to be honest, are quite dark. And a lot of them, Huntress for example, have serious childhood trauma, have serious mental illnesses like Harley. But I felt like sometimes you can't really go as deep with those things if you have to censor yourself. And I thought, 'Wouldn't it be liberating if we didn't have to worry about that?' and really go for it, and then later in the edit kind of find where the tone of movie lies."

Robbie also added that when she pitched the film, she pitched it with an R in mind. "I pitched the idea of an R-rated girl gang film including Harley, because I was like, 'Harley needs friends,'" Robbie said. "Harley loves interacting with people, so don't ever make her do a standalone film. She's got to be with other people, it should be a girl gang. I wasn't seeing enough girl gangs on screen, especially in the action space. So that was always a big part of it."

Birds of Prey opens February 7, 2020.