David Ayer has been chatting about his cut of Suicide Squad, and the impact on Jared Leto’s Joker.
David Ayer’s currently deep in promotion for his new film – Jason Statham-headlined action thriller The Beekeper. During that promo tour, the filmmaker’s been taking the chance to answer questions about his 2016 hit, Suicide Squad.
It’s no secret that Ayer’s cut of the film was not the one that we got to see in cinemas, and unlike Zack Snyder’s Justice League film – also part of the DC universe, of course – he’s not been afforded the resources to offer his version of the movie.
There remains the olive branch that the Ayer cut of Suicide Squad may one day see the light of day, but in the interim, the man himself has been filling in some of the gaps. Most recently on whatever we’re supposed to call Twitter these days.
Responding to a specific question about the differences in the way the Joker – played by Jared Leto – comes across in his cut, Ayer said that “Joker is formidable intense and a force of nature in my cut”.
He added that the Joker is “not unfocused and silly. In my cut he has a story arc that hangs powerfully over the entire film”.
For good measure, he chipped in that “in the studio cut he’s a prop not a character”.
Here’s the post in question…
Joker is formidable intense and a force of nature in my cut. Not unfocused and silly. In my cut he has a story arc that hangs powerfully over the entire film.
— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) December 17, 2023
In the studio cut he’s a prop not a character. https://t.co/RspbQWLZjV
There does seem to a growing headwind here in favour of getting Ayer’s cut of the film out into the world, so we may just find out for definite whether Ayer’s right or wrong. He’d said last summer that James Gunn, now the co-head of DC movies, was likely to get a release at some point in the future.
Warner Bros hasn’t officially said anything to confirm this, so it’s still a case of wait and see. But as we hear more, we’ll keep you posted.
It’d be quite a turnaround if, as it turns out, Jared Leto’s portrayal of the Joker turned out to be a whole lot better than originally credited. Stranger things have happened…
