When fans got their first teaser for Suicide Squad back in 2016, the film was teased to be a dark serious movie around the same vein as Batman v Superman; but after the divisive reception of BvS, the film had decided to do a hard pivot and a lot of what was originally planned by director David Ayer was changed.
Ayer has been very vocal online about wanting to release his cut of the movie (not unlike #ReleaseTheSnyderCut), but he goes into more detail about what went down behind the scenes during an appearance on Jon Bernthal’s Real Ones podcast. Ayer says:
“Hollywood—I tell people—is like watching someone you love get f*cked by someone you hate… The big one is Suicide Squad. That shit broke me. That handed me my ass.”
For context, here was the original tone of Suicide Squad when it was first revealed at Comic-Con 2016:
By the time the movie came out, the film had become more comedic in tone, and it was said that the studio had hired a trailer company to re-edit the movie and make it more “fun”. Ayer continues:
“Come right off Fury, right? I had the town in my hand—could’ve done anything, and I did do anything. And go on this journey with it. 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, 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.’”
@realonesjonbernthal David Ayer talks about his experience on Suicide Squad #jonbernthal #dceu #warnerbros #margotrobbie #willsmith ♬ original sound – Real Ones Podcast
Among the plot points that were said to have been dropped from the original plan was the emphasis on the toxic relationship between Harley and Joker; plus an affair between her and Deadshot. With so many people also hating on Jared Leto’s version of Joker, Ayer has gone to say that no one has ever seen his ‘real’ performance since the studio butchered down what Ayer described as a ‘terrifying’ Clown Prince of Crime.
For now, fans—and Ayer himself—have been trying to get an online campaign for #ReleaseTheAyerCut online, but with DC’s new management, it’s starting to look unlikely we’ll get the film released.
Who knows, maybe with enough Multiverse hype and another pandemic, maybe Ayer’s Suicide Squad would eventually see the light of day.
