Cathy Yan wanted 'more control' over Birds of Prey and also talks about the 'Ayer Cut'

Cathy Yan wishes she had "more control" over 'Birds of Prey'. The 38-year-old director helmed the DC Extended Universe movie and confessed that she wanted to have more of a say over the final cut of the film.

Cathy Yan recently spoke with The Playlist about her experience directing Birds of Prey and the pressure of working with a studio on such a big project. “It was definitely challenging,” said Yan. “And I think when you’re dealing with a budget like [‘Birds of Prey’ had] and the sort of pressures of a studio, especially a studio that is undergoing a lot of change, inevitably you end up having to compromise and fight for stuff. And you win some and you lose a lot. It’s just kind of how it is.” "I don't know if there's a Cathy Yan cut out there, but I think for any filmmaker, all of us are in it because we want to express ourselves as wholly as possible. And to match what you ultimately see on screen with what's in our head."

Cathy admits that her experience on 'Birds of Prey' – which starred Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as The Huntress and Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Black Canary – has left her unsure about taking on a blockbuster in the future.

Asked if the superhero flick will impact on her plans, she told The Playlist: "Yes and no.

"I never did ('Birds of Prey') in the first place so that I could say I did a big movie or blockbuster movie. I actually very much did it because I thought the script was interesting. And the fact that I got the chance to depict women, especially female superheroes, in a way that we haven't really seen before, like neither perfect nor weak, you know? "I think it's (typically) either-or really. I enjoyed that challenge of being able to subvert the genre a little bit." Cathy added: "I would never discount ever doing it again. I try not to think of whether I would do this type of movie or that type of movie again. Or whether I'd work with this studio or that.

"But more like, 'Is this story compelling?' And I'm also a writer/director. So, in that case, my big lesson is that I want to continue to do that and have a little bit more control over the story I'm telling."

In the interview, she continued that, saying, “I do know that there was a very different tone of movie that [Ayer] had planned for ‘Suicide Squad’ that never really made it.”

'Birds of Prey' is now available on Digital and Blu-ray.