It seems like David Ayer is in the news every six months to talk about the director's cut of Suicide Squad that never saw the light of day. However, Ayer's feelings seem to be a little less hurt this time around as his comments are much more understanding and much less demanding than they usually are when he speaks of the Ayer Cut.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Ayer seems to understand that there's a very slim chance of getting the Ayer Cut of Suicide Squad released while Gunn and DC are just starting a new universe.
“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.”
Like he said, Gunn, Safran, and Zaslav aren't going to want to head back to DC's old stomping ground when the new one has barely been seen. All it would do right now is reignite the fire for those that want the Snyderverse to return, a fire that never seems totally put out. Ayer understands the fairness of this.
“Maybe with enough time, it’ll be seen as a more nostalgic thing. But just for the sake of everybody that worked on [2016’s Suicide Squad], it really does deserve to be seen,” Ayer says. “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.”
His latest comments are broken down into two points: nostalgia and respect for the cast and crew of the movie.
We're not entirely sure who is or will be feeling nostalgic for Suicide Squad. While the movie had its fans and it brought in about $750 million dollars, there are likely not very many people who would feel nostalgic for it.
Respecting the cast, crew, and writers by releasing the original cut of the film is a far better reason to do so. Everyone involved in the film put time and effort into its original version only to have that time and effort replaced by something else. Of course, they still put time and effort into the versions that came after the original, but the end result was likely not the same as many of their original versions of characters, sets, etcetera.
Ayer went on to describe how neither versions of the movie that tested were his original version.
“A lot of the major elements got vetoed early on. The bake-off was then 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.”
It seems like there are very few people that have actually seen Ayer's original cut of Suicide Squad. As he said, the studio made their cut, then they tested the version of their cut that he liked and the version of their cut that they liked.
Ayer first talked about studio interference with Suicide Squad all the way back in 2016, the same year the movie was released. Ayer talked about the reason for Joker’s infamous “Damaged” tattoo, stating that, after Joker killed Robin, something that Harley Quinn was credited for in the final cut of the movie, Batman smashed all of Joker’s teeth out of his mouth nearly killing him and forced him into Arkham Asylum where Joker tattooed himself as a reminder to Batman of the time he lost control. He talked about several different openings to the movie and eventually said there were as many as seven different cuts of the film.
When Zack Snyder’s Justice League was given the go ahead for an HBO Max (now just called Max) release, Ayer began to talk about the possibility of getting his cut of Suicide Squad released. He infamously stated that it would be much cheaper than the Snydercut as it would require no reshoots and the footage was entirely complete. Since then, he’s been quite vocal about his disdain towards the cut that was released, saying it was, “beaten into a comedy” on more than one occasion.
What do you think about the Ayer Cut of Suicide Squad? Is it time for Ayer to let it go? Would you be interested in seeing it? Let us know in the comments!