Despite its disputes being more than seven years old, David Ayer’s 2016 superhero film, “Suicide Squad,” continues to be a source of controversy for dejected fans online and a point of contention for the filmmaker. Part of it is because “Suicide Squad” was a vestige of the old Zach Snyder-led DC Universe, which is no more, and part of it is because the film was apparently tampered with beyond belief.
In a new long-form clip from Jon Bernthal’s podcast Real Ones—Bernthal was part of Ayer’s 2014 film, “Fury,” thus they are life-long friends—the filmmaker described “Suicide Squad” as the biggest heartbreak of his professional career.
Much of this is old hat to fans, but to recap, in the clip, Ayer says what was meant to be a dark, meaningful, “soulful” superhero film was turned into “a fucking comedy” after “Deadpool” became a huge R-Rated comedy hit and the Snyder’s grim and humorless tones of “Batman V. Superman” were torn apart by critics.
“OK, we’re going to turn David Ayer’s dark soulful movie into a fucking comedy now,” the director recounted about Warner Bros. and DC Films’ reaction to ‘BVS’ getting “hammered” by critics.
Either way, Ayer has what has now been called “#TheAyerCut” of “Suicide Squad” and he recently told fans online that it will see the light of day eventually.
The old regime of DC Films is gone, and in its place is DC Studios, run by filmmaker James Gunn (who directed 2021’s “The Suicide Squad”) and producer Peter Safran.
“Gunn told me it would have its time to be shared. He absolutely deserves to launch to launch his DC universe without more drama about old projects,” Gunn said online recently.
But in the expanded bit of video from Real Ones, Ayer was a bit more cautious and suggested James Gunn’s DC Studios needs to put up some wins before it can ever consider putting out something from an old era of DC that’s contrary to his new one.
“It’s like Schrodinger’s cut now,” Ayer said. “Is it like more legendary to see it or more legendary to see it? I’ve talked to James Gunn, and they’ve got their own—he’s trying to figure that whole mess out, and it’s possible, but they need to put some scores up on the board first.”
Ayer says he has a copy of his cut, and people have seen it. “They never tested my cut, and I have it. I have a fucking copy of it, thank god,” he said. “Everyone who has seen the cut has the same reaction: Rage. Like, ‘This is the movie we wanted, why didn’t we get this?’”
So, #AyerCut, put it in the maybe column and hope James Gunn has a better DC Studios year than the one he inherited in 2023 with three bombs so far, “Shazam! Fury Of The Gods,” “The Flash,” and “Blue Beetle.” Welp, maybe “Aquaman 2” can salvage the year? Stay tuned.
