Chris Messina & Ali Wong Join DC Films Birds Of Prey

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It was a big day for the DC Universe yesterday as not only were the review embargo lifted on Aquaman (you can read my review here), but Warner Bros aren’t standing still as filming for Birds of Prey begin next month they’ve added more names to the cast.

As Deadline revealed that Ewan McGregor’s Black Mask won’t be the only villain as The Mindy Project star Chris Messina will be playing the psychotic DC villain Victor Zsasz.

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The character has become ever more popular since his first appearance in the 1992 comic series Shadow of the Bat featuring in Batman Begins, The Arkham games and currently played by Anthony Carrigan in the TV show Gotham.

Zsasz has an interesting background as he was similar to Bruce Wayne. Born into a wealthy family becoming head of an International business. But after the loss of his parents and wealth, he was suicidal and as he was about to kill himself, he was interrupted by a mugger to which he fought off.

During the fight, he suffered a psychotic break and become a serial killer with women being his main victim and he cuts himself after every person he kills.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, John Leguizamo was going to play the character before dropping out by the Live By Night and Argo star.

What’s exciting about this casting is the fact we’re going to have a character like this in the R-rated world and I think could bring the scares if used right but the obvious storyline is that he works for Black Mask and we’ll see him throughout the film before being taken care of in the boss battle in the third act.

Meanwhile, it wasn’t just Messina joining the Cathy Yan directed DC movie as The Wrap reported comedian Ali Wong will be a supporting member of the cast.

Wong is set to play an associate of Renee Montoya (played by Rosie Perez) in the Gotham City PD. So she could be a lawyer or something.

This will be a change of pace for the stand-up, whose Netflix specials are brilliant and should be differently checked out.

Actor Robert Catrini is also apart of the cast but whose role is being kept under wraps. Deadline also revealed the other cast members joining whose roles are being kept quite are Steven Williams, Derek Wilson, Dana Lee, Francois Chau and Matthew Willig.

Wilson is the only one with a rumoured role being reported as a police associate of Montoya.

Finally, with Montoya being a major character in the film, I wonder if we’ll see a cameo from JK Simmons’ Detective Jim Gordan.

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Margot Robbie is coming back as Harley Quinn and will be joined by Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Huntress, Jurnee Smollett-Bell playing Black Canary and Cassandra Cain being played by Ella Jay Basco.

Birds of Prey is set to open on February 7, 2020.