Director David Ayer recently opened up a little more about his original cut of Suicide Squad that fans will never get to see. Some DC fans hoped we would get to see Ayer’s original cut of the film, but WB has confirmed that’s not going to happen.
Ayer has explained that the original version of the film was “ripped to pieces,” and said some of Jared Leto’s “terrifying” scenes as Joker were cut from the film. While talking to Entertainment Weekly, Ayer said that his film scared the shit out of studio executives:
“I get it, it’s a business. It’s frustrating because I made a really heartfelt drama and it got ripped to pieces and they tried to turn it into Deadpool, which it just wasn’t supposed to be. And then you take the hit, you’re the captain of the ship, my name was on it. [Laughs] Even though it didn’t represent what I actually made, I would take all the bullets and be a good soldier. I made an amazing movie. It’s an amazing movie, it just scared the shit out of the executives.”
Ayer is kinda bummed that fans won’t get to see his true vision of the film. After Warner Bros. CEO Ann Sarnoff said, “We won’t be developing David Ayer’s cut.” Ayer asked “Why?” on Twitter. But, he does think it’s cool that they supported Zack Snyder’s cut of Justice League. He went on to say:
“I think the studios see now that there can be canon, there can be non-canon, the fans just want to touch it. They love the characters, they just want to spend more time with it. And people are way more sophisticated about how movies are made and want to be participants in the journey. There’s room for different things, different versions, different assets being shared with the audience. I think it just helps strengthen the community. But absolute credit to Warner Bros. for supporting Zack and having the courage to explore that.”
With James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad currently in the spotlight, I can kind of understand why WB doesn’t want to pursue the Ayer Cut. They can only be promoting one Suicide Squad film at a time. But, who knows, maybe at some point down the road WB will have a change of heart and let Ayer release his cut of the film.