2016’s Suicide Squad director David Ayer gives hope that James Gunn will allow the “Ayer Cut” to see the light of day.
Does David Ayer believe James Gunn will release the “Ayer Cut”?
On Twitter, Ayer responded to a repost of Jared Leto’s first photo as the Joker in a tuxedo released seven years ago to the day when Suicide Squad hit theaters. The director chose to take a philosophical stance on his humbling experience for all the challenges his movie faced while hinting that the new DC Studios CEO will release his preferred cut one day.
“What’s your advice on how to navigate this situation with grace? There’s a genuine curiosity and interest from a lot of people. And I’m aware of there is another group of people that have fun mocking the film. Your comment is a perfect example of how many are magnetically drawn discussion to the 2016 film in a negative way. Have you ever had an experience in life that didn’t until [sic] the way you wanted, that dragged you, that made you rethink everything? I have,” Ayer said.
He continued, “All I know is my unseen film plays much better than the studio release. The interest in my cut being show seems real and organic. And Gunn told me it would have it’s time to be shared. He absolutely deserves to launch to launch his DC universe without more drama about old projects. In a way I’m chained to this thing. I’m riding a tiger here and navigating this situation the best I can. Life is a very strange journey. Welcome to my Ted talk.”
Ever since the success of the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign for Zack Snyder’s Justice League, DC fans have been clamoring for Ayer’s version of Suicide Squad with the #ReleaseTheAyerCut campaign. Initially, Ayer’s approach to Suicide Squad was to make a Dirty Dozen-style action movie with supervillain protagonists such as Will Smith’s Deadshot and Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn. After the divisive reaction to 2016’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, however, Warner Bros. ordered reshoots to remove Ayer’s “somber” tone in favor of a more upbeat action-comedy similar to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Released in August 2016, Suicide Squad was largely panned by critics but managed to wrangle $747 million worldwide. Warner Bros. opted not to proceed with Ayer’s planned Suicide Squad sequel and moved ahead with Gunn’s 2021 soft-reboot, The Suicide Squad. At the time of the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League on HBO Max in 2021, Ayer expressed his belief that his cut of Suicide Squad has a place outside the current direction of the DCU.
“I think the studios see now that there can be canon, there can be non-canon, the fans just want to touch it,” said Ayer. “They love the characters, they just want to spend more time with it. And people are way more sophisticated about how movies are made and want to be participants in the journey. There’s room for different things, different versions, different assets being shared with the audience. I think it just helps strengthen the community. But absolute credit to Warner Bros. for supporting Zack and having the courage to explore that.”
