Mary Elizabeth Winstead felt liberated working with Cathy Yan on Birds of Prey

Mary Elizabeth Winstead felt liberated working with "smart" director Cathy Yan on their movie Birds of Prey.

The 35-year-old plays Helena Bertinelli, also known as Huntress, in the comic book action thriller, alongside Margot Robbie, Rosie Perez, and Jurnee Smollett-Bell.

And Winstead told The Hollywood Reporter it was refreshing working with the Chinese-American filmmaker and the female-dominated cast and crew.

“It feels great to not be standing behind a bunch of men, but to actually be standing in front of it as women with something that we made, something that we’re proud of and something that we put our blood, sweat and tears into,” she shared.

"I have never been a part of something that was so female heavy in terms of every single department and every single leading creative role, especially not in this genre, this budget level and all of those things.

"That was liberating, refreshing, exciting, fun and meaningful in every single way for me, and I think for the rest of the cast as well."

The Fargo star, who was full of praise for director Yan, was given freedom to add her own interpretation of her comic book character to the role.

"She’s so smart, so confident, competent and fun," she explained. "I was given quite a bit of freedom... to just read whatever I wanted, as much as I wanted, and take inspiration from whatever bits helped me or fit this version of the character that we’ve created in the movie."