David Ayer has long touted an “Ayer Cut” of Suicide Squad in the vein of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, a.k.a. the Snyder Cut, which finally got its day in the sun thanks to a desperate need for content on HBO Max. While the theatrical version of Suicide Squad featured a breakout portrayal of Harley Quinn by Margot Robbie, the film was critically derided and Ayer has repeatedly blamed Warner Bros. for meddling with the film because it “scared the sh*t out of the executives.”
As Warner Bros. soured on continuing the DCEU (the studio made it a point to note that the Snyder Cut was the end of the line for the Snyder-verse), the chances of the Ayer Cut being released seemed increasingly slim. However, Ayer has continued to fight for his original version to be see the light of day. The director got extremely candid about how the previous Warners Bros. regime treated Suicide Squad during the latest episode of Jon Bernthal’s Real Ones podcast.
“Hollywood — I tell people — is like watching someone you love get f*cked by someone you hate,” Ayer told Bernthal. “The big one is Suicide Squad. That sh*t broke me. That handed me my ass.”
Via Variety:
“Come right off ‘Fury,’ right? I had the town in my hand — could’ve done anything, and I did do anything,” Ayer continued. “And [I] go on this journey with [‘Suicide Squad’]. And the same thing — authentic, truthful, let’s do all the rehearsal, let’s really get in each other’s souls. Let’s create this amazing, collaborative thing, right? And then ‘Deadpool’ opened, right? And they never tested ‘Batman v. Superman,’ so they were expecting a different result, and then they got hammered by all the critics. Then it’s like, ‘Okay, we’re going to turn David Ayer’s dark, soulful movie into a f*cking comedy now.’”
As for Ayer’s renewed intensity, the director recently revealed that new DC Studios chief James Gunn told him that the Ayer Cut “would have it’s time to be shared.” Ayer also said that Gunn “absolutely deserves to launch to launch his DC universe without more drama about old projects.”
Going on podcasts and talking about Suicide Squad getting “f*cked by someone you hate” kinda feels like the opposite of that.
(Via Variety)
