David Ayer recently gave a surprising update on the status of his director’s cut of the 2016 Suicide Squad film, which has been discussed often over the past few years.
What did David Ayer say about Suicide Squad?
In a recent talk with The Hollywood Reporter for his upcoming movie A Working Man, Ayer was asked about the likelihood that his version of the movie would ever come out. Ayer said that he believes DC Studios and CEO James Gunn would like to get “some scores on the board” first, and get their own projects moving.
“Yeah, for sure,” Ayer said when asked if it was still “radio silence” on the project. “When I did speak with James [Gunn], he wanted to [first] get some scores on the board. DC has its history and its legacy, and it’s taking some work to reestablish that IP and get it moving in the direction they want. So it’s absolutely fair for them to do that.”
Ayer — who previously said he was “done” with DC — was also said that he believes the film does “deserve to be seen” for all those who worked on it. At the end of the day, though, Ayer noted “it’s not my IP, and it’s not my studio. So I absolutely understand what James is doing, and I think he’s going to have some real successes with the lanes he’s going down.”
The filmmaker also touched on the history of his cut of the movie, and revealed that his original cut never even got to test in front of audiences, noting that the movie that tested was “my version of their cut and their version of their cut. My version mostly won, but it still was not the movie I made at all.”
In 2021, Ayer took to social media to defend his role as director of the original Suicide Squad, where he said that his version of the film was a more intricate and emotional journey. “The studio cut is not my movie. Read that again. And my cut is not the 10-week director’s cut – It’s a fully mature edit by Lee Smith standing on the incredibly [sic] work by John Gilroy,” Ayer said in his initial note.
It’s uncertain as to whether fans will ever get to see the proper David Ayer cut of Suicide Squad, but with fans having mobilized and successfully petitioned DC and Warner Bros. to release Zack Snyder’s cut of The Justice League, it’s not impossible.
(Source: The Hollywood Reporter)
