David Ayer corrected misconceptions about his unreleased cut of Suicide Squad. The production team and colleagues that have seen it think his alternative cut is superior to the 2016 theatrical release, which the director says "ripped to pieces" his version of the movie.Ayer intended to make a haunting and heartfelt drama that featured the true performance of Jared Leto's Joker. However, according to reputable sources, Warner Bros. turned Suicide Squad into a comedy during post-production by replacing Ayer's footage and score with popular music and studio reshoots in hopes that it could capitalize on a successful formula akin to Deadpool. The teaser trailer for Suicide Squad was more in line with what the original vision was, which according to Ayer, currently exists in an alternative edit that the studio might still be reluctant to officially release, despite the critical and financial success of Zack Snyder's Justice League.Even so, Ayer has not lost hope, as his most recent comments on the unreleased Suicide Squad cut suggest he and the fan base will continue campaigning for its release. “Why not?” Ayer asks in response to a Twitter user who said, “it’s never going to happen,” which was a reply to the Ayer Cut fan page wishing the director a happy birthday. This interaction kick-started a series of tweets by the director, the production, and colleagues that have seen Ayer's version of Suicide Squad, further revealing that the Ayer Cut was potentially something more than what audiences know as the standard “director’s cut.”
For fans of the DCEU, this may seem familiar because Man of Steel and Wonder Woman were the only films that weren’t products of studio meddling in the DCEU build-up to Justice League, even though director Patty Jenkins fought for Wonder Woman's best scene. Luckily for those fans, Batman v Superman was salvaged with its Ultimate Edition version. Furthermore, Snyder got his superior version of Justice League released despite prior Warner Bros. insiders describing the Snyder Cut as a mistake. Suicide Squad remains the only wronged film in the overall franchise that has yet to be made right by a studio that, at the time, had narrativized its image as director-driven.
However, the prior regime at Warner Bros. is no longer in charge, as the studio is now under new management with David Zaslav. Warner Bros. Discovery is hard at work building its exciting new DCU with James Gunn, who had previously acknowledged the Ayer Cut campaign. However, this doesn’t mean the current executives can’t rise above their predecessors by releasing Ayer's Suicide Squad for fans, the director, and general audiences that are curious to see it.
Suicide Squad is available on HBO Max.
Source: David Ayer/Twitter