'Birds of Prey' director denies claim of reshoots and 'd**k pic' storyline dropped from movie

Cathy Yan, the director of Birds of Prey, has denied claims that a storyline involving a 'd**k pic' was removed from the final film.

The Suicide Squad spin-off was released in February, centring on Margot Robbie's character Harley Quinn and her band of outlaws facing off against Ewan McGregor's ruthless crime lord Roman Sionis, aka Black Mask.

But Yan has now taken a strip off a critic, comicbook writer and YouTube host, who has claimed that the movie was the subject of reshoots, and that John Wick director Chad Stahelski was brought in to add more action sequences.

Read More: 'Birds of Prey': The twisted history of Harley Quinn, from animation to comics to the big screen

In a testy exchange on Twitter, the director told Grace Randolph 'you have no idea what you're talking about'.

It kicked off after Yan expressed sympathy to a tweet from Suicide Squad director David Ayer, whose movie was subject to re-edits and reshoots.

Randolph tweeted: “I told u guys, massive reshoots largely to take out ‘d**k pics’ storyline & add more action via Chad Stahelski. I’m surprised Yan would jump on this bandwagon though - #BirdsOfPrey very well reviewed by critics & has a very strong fan base that vehemently defends film as is #DCEU.”

Yan then replied: “Excuse me, you have no idea what you’re talking about. It’s fascinating you would deem to try when you weren’t part of the process whatsoever.”

Yan says the storyline in question, which didn't make it to the final movie, appears to be that of the penis of McGregor's character appearing on a classical statue.

But while Yan said the gag was removed from the movie, she vehemently denied reshoots took place.

She went on: “It was a joke to show how narcissist he is. It didn’t work - we all agreed - so we rewrote some ADR. That’s it. Absolutely no reshoots we’re devoted to this nonsense issue.”

You can see how the spat panned out below.

Randolph has defended herself, however:

The movie underperformed at the box office on its release earlier this year, making just over $200 million worldwide, from a production budget of around $100 million.

Yan has disputed that the movie was a flop, however.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, she said: “I know that the studio had really high expectations for the movie — as we all did.

“There were also undo expectations on a female-led movie, and what I was most disappointed in was this idea that perhaps it proved that we weren’t ready for this yet. That was an extra burden that, as a woman-of-colour director, I already had on me anyway.

“So, yes, I think there were certainly different ways you could interpret the success or lack of success of the movie, and everyone has a right to do that. But, I definitely do feel that everyone was pretty quick to jump on a certain angle."