How Margot Robbie Got Up-Close To A Hyena in ‘Birds of Prey’
Harley Quinn sure loves hyenas. In the comics she has two of them–usually named Bud and Lou. But in the Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn the ‘Cupid of Crime’ has just one, which she affectionately calls Bruce after the Dark Knight.
One is certainly enough to cause trouble in a live-action film especially for Margo Robbie, who as Harley Quinn, gets up-close with a hyena in the film. Hyenas can’t be trained like dogs or other animals. They’re extremely dangerous. Lucky for Robbie, the species is related to dogs, so through the wizardry of visual effects, a dog was turned into a hyena.
“We went to go see a real-life hyena,” Robbie told ComicBook.com. “There’s a hyena in California that’s appeared on screen before. Turns out, it was gonna be impossible to shoot with him because they’re extremely dangerous and take ownership of anything they touch. So, if you put it on the couch, then it’s gonna eat the couch. You can’t get the couch back. It doesn’t really work for filming.”
“Ultimately, we had a really big dog. Its fur was CGI,” she said. “Because the alternative is to have a dude in a green suit. That’s often weird.” I’ve seen that process play out when we did Tarzan. I remember watching Alexander Skarsgård nuzzle with some big, burly dude from South London. And I was just like: it’s weird!”
“So, I shared a Twizzler with a big dog instead,” laughed Robbie.
Birds of Prey is currently in theaters.
