Birds of Prey Director Debunks Rumored Black Mask Sex Pic Storyline

Director Cathy Yan debunks rumors that Birds of Prey nearly featured a sex pic storyline for its villain Roman Sionis/Black Mask (Ewan McGregor). As the most recent entry in the DC Extended Universe, Birds of Prey followed Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) as she recovered from her break-up with the Joker (Jared Leto) and sought her own place in the world. While Harley was one of the film’s biggest draws because of her role in Suicide Squad, the movie also introduced audiences to the first big screen version of the Birds of Prey, made up of Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), and Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez).

Birds of Prey‘s main villain was McGregor’s Black Mask, a crime lord who owns a night club in Gotham and takes pleasure in making people suffer. McGregor’s performance was praised by fans and critics alike, and many were pleased with how Black Mask was translated onto the big screen. One thing that was left vague, however, was Black Mask’s relationship with his lackey Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina). Ahead of Birds of Prey’s release, there were conflicting reports about whether Black Mask would be either gay or bisexual and in a relationship with Victor. While Birds of Prey established Harley is bisexual and kept Renee a lesbian, it didn’t specify anything about Black Mask’s sexuality.

Another element that was left out of Birds of Prey was Black Mask’s “dick picks,” something a few people claimed was initially part of the film. However, according to Yan, that story never existed in the first place. After Yan sympathized with Suicide Squad director David Ayer over dealing with studio interference, reporter Grace Randolph took Yan’s comments to be referring to the removal of Black Mask’s “dick pics.” Yan was quick to shoot that down, saying, “Excuse me, you have no idea what you’re talking about.” Randolph doubled-down on her insistence that the storyline existed, and Yan reiterated that “there were never dick pics.”

Based on this exchange, it’s not clear exactly why Randolph would continue to stand by her comments when Yan repeatedly told her otherwise. Seeing as Yan initially was voicing her support for Ayer, a director who has spoken openly about the things that were removed from his film, it seems likely that Yan would agree with Randolph if Black Mask’s sex pic storyline was a real thing. Yan probably was referring to something very different when she responded to Ayer’s post.

It’s nice to see Yan defend Birds of Prey, as she has since the film was released in February. Birds of Prey opened to a decidedly underwhelming box office performance, but Yan stood by her colorful DC film. Despite those disappointing numbers, Birds of Prey scored positive reviews and won over a good number of fans. Clearly, the movie didn’t need any dick pics for fans to fall in love with it.

Source: Cathy Yan/Twitter

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Rachel Labonte
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Rachel LaBonte is a news, feature, and movie review writer for Screen Rant with a deep passion for film and television. A graduate of Emerson College, she majored in Media Arts Production while specializing in screenwriting. She’s been a writer ever since high school when she realized she was rather good at it and joined as many entertainment news clubs as she could while in school. Most notably, she wrote for Emerson’s website Emertainment Monthly, and one of her film reviews won an Evvy (Emerson’s student awards) for Best Review. Her deep love of movies led to her working at a movie theater for five years, which she loved despite the angry customers. An avid reader who constantly buys books before reading the ones she already owns, Rachel is a huge fan of superheroes (especially of the Marvel variety) and wizards and will likely never be able to catch up on all the movies/TV shows she longs to watch.

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