David Ayer isn’t done addressing the director’s cut of 2016 film “Suicide Squad.”
The director claimed during Jon Bernthal’s “Real Ones” podcast that early cuts of “Suicide Squad” led to rumors that he was in line to take over DC Studios at Warner Bros.
“During a time, during ‘Suicide Squad,’ when the dailies were coming in, people were like ‘Oh shit, maybe Ayer’s going to take over DC,’” Ayer said. “It’s ‘Game of Thrones’ in there. The palace politics were insane.”
James Gunn later helmed quasi-sequel “The Suicide Squad” and eventually became co-CEO of DC Studios, along with Peter Safran. Ayer noted that Gunn has been supportive of potentially making his “Suicide Squad” director’s cut available.
“They never tested my cut, and the thing is, I have it, I fucking have it, and if I didn’t, oh my God…” Ayer said. “Everyone I’ve shown the cut has the same reaction: rage. Like, ‘this is the movie we wanted, why didn’t we get this?’”
He continued, “It’s like Schrödinger’s Cut now. Is it more legendary to see it or more legendary to not see it? I talked to James Gunn, and look…he’s trying to figure that whole mess out. They wanna get some scores on the board first, you know? I have, I show people, but it’s tough because I wanna fucking move on from it, I wanna heal from it.”
Ayer contextualized Warner Bros.’ decision to retool the film at the time, which introduced Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and starred Jared Leto as the Joker.
“‘Deadpool’ opened, and then they never tested ‘Batman v. Superman,’ so they put the movie out there and they never did a test,” Ayer said. “And they were expecting a different result, and then they got hammered by all the critics, and then it’s like, ‘OK, we’re going to turn David Ayer’s dark, soulful movie into a fucking comedy now.’”
He admitted, “That shit broke me. That handed me my ass. Hollywood, I tell people, is like watching someone you love get fucked by someone you hate.”
Ayer recently tweeted that his version of “Suicide Squad” may see the light of day.
“”All I know is my unseen film plays much better than the studio release,” Ayer wrote in part. “The interest in my cut being show[n] seems real and organic. And [James] Gunn told me it would have it’s time to be shared. He absolutely deserves to launch his DC universe without more drama about old projects.”
“Suicide Squad” actor Will Smith said in 2022 that he supports an Ayer cut of the film.
“Let me tell you, there’s a whole lot that stayed on the floor for ‘Suicide Squad,’” Smith said. “I’m into it. I love that world. I love what was created in both versions. I absolutely would love to [see it].”
