David Ayer Blasts the Studio for Retooling His ‘Suicide Squad’

The seven-year-long soap opera about David Ayer and his ‘Suicide Squad’ movie just got a new episode. As we all remember, Ayer wrote and directed the first ‘Suicide Squad’ movie, which was released in 2016 as a part of the original plan for DC Extended Universe (remember, that was all before that ‘Justice League’ fiasco). Although the movie achieved great commercial success, it received negative reviews for its screenplay, direction, villains, and action sequences, although Margot Robbie received praise for her portrayal of Harley Quinn.

We all know what happened next after Joss Whedon, with the studio’s blessing, reshot the majority of ‘Justice League’ after Zack Snyder left the project. The butchered movie was released in theaters and turned out to be a box-office disappointment.

After almost four years of the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign on social media, Zack Snyder released his 4-hour-long director’s cut in 2021, and that encouraged the fans to the #ReleaseTheAyerCut campaign since it was known the studio made many changes to Ayer’s movie during post-production, and not even Ayer is willing to let that go.

David Ayer openly talks about everything that happened with his ‘Suicide Squad’

While speaking on the ‘Real Ones with Jon Bernthal’ podcast, Ayer did not choose the words to express his disappointment that apparently he still feels seven years after ‘Suicide Squad’ was released in theaters. Ayer said that he still has his cut of the movie and wants to release it to move on. He also accused the studio of changing his movie because the studio tried to replicate the success of 2016’s ‘Deadpool,’ after ‘Batman V Superman,’ which was released a month after ‘Deadpool,’ received mixed response.

“They never tested my cut, and the thing is, I have it, I fucking have it, and if I didn’t, oh my God. Everyone I’ve shown the cut has the same reaction: rage. Like, ‘this is the movie we wanted, why didn’t we get this?’

It’s like Schrödinger’s Cut now. Is it more legendary to see it or more legendary to not see it? I talked to James Gunn, and look, he’s trying to figure that whole mess out. They wanna get some scores on the board first, you know? I have, I show people, but it’s tough because I wanna fucking move on from it, I wanna heal from it.

‘Deadpool’ opened, and then they never tested ‘Batman V Superman,’ so they put the movie out there and they never did a test. And they were expecting a different result, and then they got hammered by all the critics, and then it’s like, ‘OK, we’re going to turn David Ayer’s dark, soulful movie into a fucking comedy now.’

That shit broke me. That handed me my ass. Hollywood, I tell people, is like watching someone you love get fucked by someone you hate.”

David Ayer for Real Ones with Jon Bernthal

‘Suicide Squad’ was released in August 2016, and the movie grossed $747 million, but it turned out to be a critical failure. Still, the movie won the Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. The movie features an ensemble cast featuring Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ike Barinholtz, Scott Eastwood, and Cara Delevingne.

Following the commercial success but a critical failure, the studio hired James Gunn to develop a standalone sequel. R-rated ‘The Suicide Squad’ was released in 2021, and it received positive reviews, but it flopped commercially since it was released simultaneously in theaters and on HBOMax due to the pandemic of COVID-19.

Apart from ‘Suicide Squad,’ David Ayer is best -known for 2014’s ‘Fury.’ Since ‘Suicide Squad,’ Ayer filmed two movies: ‘Bright’ and ‘The Tax Collector,’ which were both critical failures. His next movie, ‘The Beekeeper,’ is set to be released in January 2024.

What are your thoughts on this topic? Do you think the Ayer Cut will ever be released? Would you like to see it? Let us know in the comments.