Back in January, director David Ayer had all but given up on his director’s cut of “Suicide Squad” ever getting released (“I’m done with DC.”)
Now, Ayer is back on social media yet again pushing for his director’s cut to see the light of day. He’s actually created a poster, and refusing to give up. Ayer says letting go of his ‘Suicide Squad’ is “harder than quitting smoking.”
Why does Ayer believe his DC is better than the theatrical version? He claims that, after ‘Batman vs Superman’ underperformed at the box office, Warner Bros feared releasing another serious and dark superhero drama. This led the studio to interfere with his original vision and edit their own cut of “Suicide Squad”, focusing on the comedy instead of its darker undertones. Apparently, there’s hours of unused footage.
After eight years of painstaking attempts to get this thing released, Ayer will continue on with his crusade. If you remember, he had tweeted that his director’s cut “will change the course of history.” Hilarious. Ayer had also previously stated that the butchering of his original cut was “like watching someone you love get fucked by someone you hate”.
To further add to the hyperbole, Ayer told THR that his version of ‘Suicide Squad’ will be seen as an all-timer, if it ever gets released:
The thing that’s been difficult for me is that I made a great film. I made a great film. The people who have seen my cut have pretty much unanimously said that it’s one of the best comic book movies ever made. If someone who’s seen the cut wants to dispute that, then they can come talk to me.
A few months ago, Ayer vented that James Gunn and Warner Bros were ghosting him: “It’s been radio silent, and I’m done pushing a rock uphill.”
Should we believe him? Is it actually a better version? Purely based on the theatrical cut, nothing would indicate to me that a good movie is hidden somewhere inside that mess of overstylized visual debauchery.
