The hunted has become the Huntress. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is one of her generation’s Scream Queens, who became known for her roles as the resourceful heroine at the mercy of dark forces in supernatural horror series Wolf Lake, and horror films Final Destination 3, Black Christmas, The Thing and 10 Cloverfield Lane. But now, Winstead is making sure that she’s instilling the fear and causing some mayhem, as she takes on the role as the Huntress in the highly anticipated DC Extended Universe film, Birds Of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn).

A spin-off of Suicide Squad, the film once again sees Margot Robbie don her pigtails and pick up her mallet to play Harley Quinn, who rounds up a team of ass-kicking women to take down the Gotham City crime lord Black Mask (Ewan McGregor). The orphaned daughter of a mafia syndicate gangster, after seeing her entire family murdered, the Huntress becomes a sarcastic, revenge-driven loner. She’s not used to playing nicely with others, but when the chance to avenge her family arrives, she agrees – somewhat reluctantly – to join forces with the mischievous Harley.

“She really thinks, at least in the beginning, that she wants to work alone,” says Winstead. “She’s holding that very close to her vest, this idea that she’s a lone wolf – that the rest of the world doesn’t really fit with her, and she doesn’t fit with it.Then she starts meeting these other women, and sees the possibility of widening her horizons. She thinks maybe she could still have a life beyond this very narrow goal, this mission she’s been on her whole life – to take out the people who took her family from her. She’s trained as an assassin her whole life with that in mind.”

For Winstead, the experience of feeling supported by the women around her wasn’t confined to her character. The 35-year-old says she was inspired by co-star Margot Robbie, who was instrumental in pitching the film to Warner Bros, and for pushing for a female screenwriter (Christina Hodson, Bumblebee) and director (Cathy Yan, Dead Pigs).

“There was so much work, and she’s really an incredible pro in that way,” Winstead says of Robbie. “She knew everything in the script from top to bottom – she had a hand in every department.She was so detail-oriented in her mind and so aware of everything that was going on. She had to be focused on everything, all the time. But she did it in a way that never seemed overpowering, never seemed like she was trying to control anyone or anything. But she was really there for us, too, as a sort of rock.

“If anybody needed anything, had questions about anything, you really felt you could go to her. And at the same time, she’s playing the lead role in every scene and doing all these stunts. Margot always kept her cool, and always seemed like an ally and support system for everybody on set, which was really inspiring.”

Critics have yet to see the film, but the stylised trailers have amped up excitement for a kaleidoscopic, carnivalesque extravaganza. Winstead was exhilarated to finally see the finished product.

“It’s totally iconic,” she enthuses. “It’s like this brilliant pop art they’ve created for this film –it’s really unique. I love that they took inspiration from the comic books, but completely built a new world in and of itself. It feels like a Gotham we haven’t quite seen before.And I think it’s really brave of them to go out on a limb and go, ‘Okay, let’s design a world that feels like Gotham, but also feels like Harley Quinn’s brain.’ It’s full of really fun, poppy, colorful, weird, surreal set-pieces, like the funhouse.When I walked on that set, I was just taking pictures of everything because it was so beautiful – like you’d want to have elements of it in your home as a work of art.”

The sets were elaborate creations, allowing the actresses to literally step into the madness of Harley and Black Mask’s worlds. One of Winstead’s favourite memories from the shoot was an intense action sequence on a moving carousel.

“When we were shooting in the funhouse, there’s this fight scene with all of us together,” she recalls. “Cathy was shooting it in this big, long one-er – which means you get it all in one take. We were on a moving carousel, all of us dealing with our own choreography that we had just recently learned, trying to work it out. So the camera has to, for example, start on Rosie Perez fighting, and then it comes around the carousel and you see me fighting. Then it comes around the carousel again and you see Jurnee Smollet-Bell fighting, and then Margot skates in and does some sort of flip on her skates. And the camera comes back around and Jurnee’s doing another move. And it went on and on like this. So every one of us had to be perfect in order for the shot to work. It was so challenging, but at the same time so incredible to be part of, and I’ll certainly never forget it!”

Birds Of Prey also stars Rosie Perez as a Gotham City police detective; Jurnee Smollet-Bell as vigilante Black Canary; and Ella Jay Basco as Cassandra Cain – aka Batgirl. Winstead says that the characters’ spirit of camaradarie and support echoed itself in the actresses’ bond with each other offscreen.

“It was so much fun!” she beams. “Over the course of shooting we really bonded, all of us. And we met up a few times off-set and really shared our vulnerabilities with one another.There were drinks in Rosie’s trailer or at Rosie’s house; there were a lot of long talks. And again, it was a real support system. We had to do a lot of physical stuff on this movie, we were challenged every day, and we were there for one another. It really felt like a team in the way that the Birds Of Prey become a team. That was something really special.”

Many fans of comic book films, and these characters in particular, are hoping that the seemingly inevitable success of Birds Of Prey will open up new opportunities for female-led action films, female-focused superhero films, and more support and representation of women writers and directors in the genre. And for Winstead, she’s hoping the spirit of the film and the incredible, funny, charismatic, ultra-capable, ass-kicking characters will also inspire audiences.

“I hope that young girls and women see themselves reflected in these characters and can go out and feel empowered. And I hope that everyone who sees it has a lot of fun and a really, really good time!”