David Ayer discusses his ‘lost’ cut of Suicide Squad

Suicide Squad
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In the wake of the release of Snyder Cut of Justice League, Suicide Squad director David Ayer has been chatting about his own cut never seeing the light of day.

Perhaps the two most maligned DC films are the original cut of Justice League and 2016’s Suicide Squad. Both films however saw final cut spirited away from the hands of their original directors and into the laps of others.

With Zack Snyder having the opportunity to go back and recut Justice League as he originally intended (and with it being far improved), David Ayer has been chatting about his own experience on Suicide Squad. In that instance, his director’s cut had to compete via audience testing against a competing take put together by the company who compiled the film’s trailer.

Sadly, audiences plumped for the other cut, the film was released and largely derided (although it was a box office success). In the wake of Zack Snyder’s Justice League releasing, WarnerMedia CEO Ann Sarnoff has stated that the Ayer cut of Suicide Squad will not be happening, but that hasn’t stopped Ayer talking about his cut to EW.

He said that “I think the studios see now that there can be canon, there can be non-canon, the fans just want to touch it. 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”.

“I get it, it’s a business. It’s frustrating because I made a really heartfelt drama and it got ripped to pieces and they tried to turn it into Deadpool, which it just wasn’t supposed to be. And then you take the hit, you’re the captain of the ship, my name was on it”, he said.

He argued that “I made an amazing movie. It’s an amazing movie, it just scared the shit out of the executives.”

The End Of Watch director seems not to be be too bitter about the experience, and who knows, if the same online army that mobilised for Snyder’s cut of Justice League does so once more, perhaps one day we’ll get to see Ayer’s film. Don’t hold your breath, though…

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