Yan said in a recent phone interview that she hoped that “Birds of Prey” might resonate with viewers, even at this anxious time. “It’s meant to be a fun, empowering, crazy, laugh-out-loud ride,” she said. “It lets you disengage from the world for a little bit, so I hope that it can bring some light to people’s lives right now.”

Yan, 33, talked about her experience being recruited for the “Birds of Prey” team, the roller-coaster ride of its theatrical release and the film’s celebration of breakfast sandwiches. These are edited excerpts from that conversation.

How did you make the leap from “Dead Pigs” to “Birds of Prey”?

“Dead Pigs” was such a different experience. We ended up cutting the movie entirely in my living room in New York — you can imagine how furious my husband was. But it had a sort of kinship to “Birds” — the ensemble nature of it, the dark comedy. Soon after Sundance, I met with Christina Hodson, the screenwriter. She had already written “Bumblebee,” the Transformers movie, and she’s about my age and we have a similar background — she’s half-Taiwanese and grew up in London — and it was nice to see someone who was doing anything at that scale. Then I met with Margot Robbie and we also got along very well Soon after that, I went in to pitch my vision of the movie to Warner Brothers. I got the film that April, three months after Sundance.

Did you have to be persuaded in any way that “Birds of Prey” was the right next project for you?

Frankly, I did not. Really, my goal was just to make another small movie one day, and then hopefully build a long career. It was definitely a little bit of a left turn. But what I really loved about “Birds” was always the script and the attitude. It was a lot more grounded than some other movies of its ilk. I wanted to do something more visceral, and not rely too much on VFX and technology right now. It felt like something I could arguably achieve.