Suicide Squad director David Ayer revealed two never-before seen photos on social media from the original "Ayer Cut" of the DC anti-hero ensemble film.
When Suicide Squad debuted as the third film in the DC Extended Universe in 2016, the film was panned by critics and audiences alike. Similarly to 2017's Justice League, Ayer has since attested that Suicide Squad was subjected to studio interference that greatly changed the final product. The newest revelations about the Ayer Cut recently appeared on the director's Instagram story, which he used to share photos of moments from the film's production that never made it to the big screen.
The first photo highlighted a new snapshot from Jared Leto's Joker in the "circle of knives" scene. A version of the twisted hotel room setting made it to the final cut of Suicide Squad for a fleeting moment, but the new photo teased a longer version of the sequence with a previously unseen image of the Joker holding a gun to his chin. The second image appeared to be a behind-the-scenes photo of the Goat Head Priest, a Joker goon who appeared only briefly in the theatrical cut during Joker's raid on Arkham Asylum.
Ayer previously confirmed that over 10 minutes of additional Joker scenes were shot and edited only to fall to the cutting room floor, including a deleted showdown between the Clown Prince of Crime and the Suicide Squad. The apparent loss of Joker content is only one of many reports of studio interference during the production of Suicide Squad. While Ayer defended the theatrical cut of the movie at the time, he has since disavowed Suicide Squad entirely, slamming Warner Bros. and confirming "The studio cut is not my movie."
Reports from other sources close to the film have attested that Ayer's vision for Suicide Squad was originally darker and more serious in tone than the end product. One of the movie's editors, Kevin Hickman, compared the film to Ridley Scott's war drama Black Hawk Down, but with supervillains. Richard Cetrone, the stuntman for Ben Affleck's Batman also recently revealed that Ayer filmed more Batman scenes for the movie that didn't survive.
Calls for a public release of the Ayer Cut of Suicide Squad have remained strong over the years, bolstered by the releases of both Zack Snyder's Justice League as well as The Suicide Squad, the James Gunn-directed hybrid sequel/reboot of the Squad property that earned high praise from critics. However, WarnerMedia CEO Ann Sarnoff shot down the possibility earlier this year, bluntly stating "We won't be developing David Ayer's cut."
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Source: Twitter