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Director David Ayer Says That Suicide Squad "Broke Me"

Director David Ayer has said that what happened with Suicide Squad "broke him," and he considers it his biggest Hollywood heartbreak so far.

Published Mon, 28 Aug 2023 13:47:05 -0500

by Kaitlyn Booth

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Warner Bros. made severe missteps regarding the initial round of DC movies, and there is absolutely no denying that. Whether or not you think those things are dealbreakers that's up to you, but we wouldn't be here if something hadn't gone very wrong. Warner Bros. wouldn't have that Discovery at the end now if some very large things hadn't gone wrong. One of the things that appeared to go very wrong was Suicide Squad. The first teaser for Suicide Squad infamously leaked from Hall H and wasn't supposed to be seen by the public. In our opinion, something that wasn't supposed to be seen by everyone was certainly a banger. However, between that initial release in July 2015 and the movie's actual release date in August 2016, something changed, and we suddenly had a completely different film in front of us. And it was a movie that no one seemed to like, including director David Ayer, and he has been very vocal about why he believes that his version of Suicide Squad should get the Zack Snyder's Justice League treatment. Ayer was recently on Jon Bernthal's podcast Real Ones (via Variety), and when asked about what his biggest Hollywood heartbreak is, Ayer did not mince his words.

"Hollywood — I tell people — is like watching someone you love get fucked by someone you hate," Ayer said. "The big one is 'Suicide Squad.' That shit broke me. That handed me my ass."

David Ayer Wants Attention — L-R: Suicide Squad Poster (2016) Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/™ & © DC Comics | Director David Ayer attends the Netflix "Bright" premiere on Dec. 13, 2017 at the Regency Village Theatre in Los Angeles, CA. Editorial credit: CarlaVanWagoner / Shutterstock.com

"Come right off 'Fury,' right? I had the town in my hand — could've done anything, and I did do anything," Ayer continued. "And [I] 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.'"

There were already hints that things were shifting in the trailer released in January 2016, but that could have been a response to the positive buzz for Deadpool. There was always the chance that Hollywood would learn the wrong thing from Deadpool, and when it comes to Suicide Squad, Warner Bros. learned the wrong lesson. While that already made them twitchy when Deadpool was released in February 2016, that likely wasn't the catalyst for why Ayer's movie changed drastically. That occurred a month later, in March 2016, when Batman v Superman came out, and Warner Bros. infamously tried to start changing things mid-production with Justice League, and we all saw how that worked out [poorly]. It sounds like something very similar happened with Ayer's film, only instead of changing mid-production, they decided to change while in post-production, which is even worse. That means all you have to try and "fix" things are reshoots and the final edit. Who knows whether or not Ayer's version of Suicide Squad was any good? He's a good filmmaker, and Fury kicks ass if you haven't seen it before, and it's always a shame when a studio micromanages to the detriment of a creative vision.