Actor Ewan McGregor recalls his bizarre deleted Black Mask scene in Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). Released in early 2020 as a spinoff and sequel to the events of David Ayer's Suicide Squad (2016), Birds of Prey underwhelmed at the box office. However, critics once again praised Margot Robbie's performance as Harley Quinn, as well as Ewan McGregor for his eccentric portrayal of the narcissistic crime boss, Roman Sionis, also known as the Black Mask, who has a penchant for torturing his victims.
Following her break up with the Joker, Harley finds herself to be the target of various criminals of Gotham as she is no longer protected her former flame. In an attempt to spare her life, Harley makes a deal with Roman to retrieve a valuable diamond from the young pickpocket, Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco). However, Harley and Cain form a close bond and the two team up with Detective Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), Dinah Lance/Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), and Helena Bertinelli/The Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) to take on the Black Mask. McGregor earned considerable praise for his villainous turn, but extra bits of his performance were left on the cutting room floor.
McGregor recently sat down with GQ and revealed a bizarre scene that did not make it into Birds of Prey. The actor explained that a written scene found Roman, and presumably his accomplices, very high after a night out and he and the filmmakers improvised a hide-and-seek game in the character's apartment. Read what McGregor said below.
"There's lots of stuff that we improvised in that film that didn't make it into the film, sadly. We improvised this whole hide-and-seek game in my apartment. We had this idea that when they were super high after getting back from the club, they'd play hide-and-seek. It was pretty good on the page but there was more fun to be had with him."
McGregor explained that although the scene worked on the day, and was a blast to shoot, the scene apparently did not fit into the film overall. The actor did not reveal the specific reason for the scene's removal but implied that the filmmakers chose a stronger moment to use to flesh out the Black Mask, a previously unseen character in the DCEU. Regardless of the scene's deletion, McGregor's performance excellently realized the sadistic nature of the head of the Sionis crime family.
Although McGregor expressed his enjoyment while making the scene, the actor described it as something playful and perhaps not crucial to the film's plot. It is common for a director and editor to trim down their film, removing and unnecessary scenes before the movie's theatrical release. Generally, the first scenes to go are the ones that do not contribute to the story's character development or to the plot as removing it will not affect the story at all. A hide-and-seek scene with Roman may have been a fun scene to film, and it make have also matched that overall quirky tone of Birds of Prey, but the scene may have ended up on the cutting room floor due to lack of story necessity.
Source: GQ
