It’s become quite amusing watching David Ayer rant, for seven years now, about how he was done wrong by Warner Bros with his 2016 movie “Suicide Squad.” Here’s Ayer’s latest rant, taken during an interview with Jon Bernthal on the Real Ones podcast:
Hollywood—I tell people—is like watching someone you love get fucked by someone you hate. The big one is ‘Suicide Squad.’ That shit broke me. That handed me my ass. 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 [‘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 fucking comedy now.’”
Can someone please release the director’s cut already? This man is suffering. He’s probably been to therapy way too many times over this. He needs closure.
What Ayer seems to be referring to above is Warner Bros’ sudden fear in releasing another serious and dark superhero drama after ‘Batman vs Superman’ at underperformed at the box office. This led the studio to interfere with his vision and edit the cut of “Suicide Squad” that he had, focusing on the comedy instead of its darker undertones.
Should we believe Ayer when he says that his cut of “Suicide Squad” is “vastly better” than the theatrically released version? Purely based on the theatrical cut, nothing would indicate to me that a good movie is hidden somewhere inside that mess of visual debauchery.
With that being said, the #ReleaseTheAyerCut movement is real. There are many people out there who want to see it, especially after Ayer claimed his own cut was "ripped to pieces" by Warner Bros. And, know what? They’ll probably get it at some point. Ayer has definitely been hinting at his version seeing the light of day sometime soon.
Ayer‘s filmmaking career is one that fascinates and frustrates. Initially known for his hit screenplays (he wrote “Training Day,” and “The Fast and the Furious,” among many others), the 49-year-old director quickly managed to make his mark as a director with the gritty “Harsh Times,” “End of Watch” and, the underrated, “Fury.”
Ever since “Suicide Squad,” his career has taken a turn for the worst with the critical drubbings of “Bright,” “Sabotage” and “The Tax Collector.”