A source close to Warner Bros. confirmed to BuzzFeed News on Tuesday that the studio has hired Cathy Yan to direct a new movie starring Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn.
Yan will be the first Asian woman to direct a movie in the DC Cinematic Universe, following the footsteps of fellow Asian director James Wan (Aquaman) and women directors Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman) and Ava DuVernay (New Gods).
The new film will be based on DC's popular comic Birds of Prey, centered on a girl gang of DC superheroes like Batgirl and Black Canary who are led by Robbie's Harley Quinn. Robbie will produce the film and is said to have strongly pushed for the project to be directed by a woman.
After stepping away from a career as a Wall Street Journal reporter to get an MBA and MFA at New York University, Yan became best know for her feature debut Dead Pigs, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this year.
View this video on YouTube
While only the Sundance audience has really gotten to see Yan's talent, people on social media celebrated her hire as a big step for inclusion in major studio films.
GET 👏 IT 👏 CATHY 👏 YAN Huge historic move by WB and producer-star @MargotRobbie: “Robbie held firm to her desire for this film to be directed by a woman.” https://t.co/NDCRkCDisv
THIS!!!! YAaa so happy! #slaysian #HarleyQuinn 😈 https://t.co/FoBuukx2vA
BREAKING: Cathy Yan tapped to direct BIRDS OF PREY, the next Harley Quinn pic which will shoot at the end of the year. WB pic this as the next pic after Christina Hodson blew execs away with her script
I just put together that Cathy Yan the WSJ reporter and Cathy Yan the filmmaker are the same person wtf https://t.co/JpMhjTex64