David Ayer has been consistent about his brief stint in the DCEU with 2016’s Suicide Squad. The version we saw in theaters was not his movie, and has insisted that Warner Bros suits meddled with the darker version he had in mind in order to give us something more comic ala Deadpool. And while Ayer has kept busy since then, the experience has definitely changed his outlook on making movies in Hollywood.
Speaking on the Real Ones podcast with Jon Bernthal, Ayer was quick to share that the hardest experience he’s ever had as a filmmaker was the time he spent on Suicide Squad…
“Hollywood—I tell people—is like watching someone you love get fucked by someone you hate,” explained Ayer. “The big one is ‘Suicide Squad.’ That shit broke me. That handed me my ass.”
Ayer added, “Come right off ‘Fury,’ right? I had the town in my hand—could’ve done anything, and I did do anything. And go on this journey with [‘Suicide Squad’]. And the same thing—authentic, truthful, let’s do all the rehearsal, let’s really get in each other’s souls. Let’s create this amazing, collaborative thing, right? And then ‘Deadpool’ opened, right? And they never tested ‘Batman v. Superman,’ so they were expecting a different result and then they got hammered by all the critics. Then it’s like, ‘Okay, we’re going to turn David Ayer’s dark, soulful movie into a fucking comedy now.’”
The result was a box office smash, earning $747M worldwide and winning an Oscar. However, it was savaged critically and WB moved on from Ayer completely. He was supposed to do a spinoff titled Gotham City Sirens, but that instead morphed into Birds of Prey directed by Cathy Yan. James Gunn brought much of the original cast back for The Suicide Squad, but Ayer was not involved.
I loved that initial trailer for Suicide Squad, and still remember how pumped the fans at Comic-Con were for the version Ayer presented. Will any of us ever get to see it? Well, obviously there’s precedent for such a thing happening, but as of right now it looks unlikely.
Ayer’s next movie is the action-thriller The Beekeeper starring Jason Statham which opens in early 2024.
