Director David Ayer is still calling Suicide Squad his biggest Hollywood heartbreak

The 2016 theatrical cut of Suicide Squad, which Ayer has loudly maligned in the past, "broke" him, the director said

By Emma Keates | August 28, 2023 | 7:25pm

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Director David Ayer is still calling Suicide Squad his biggest Hollywood heartbreak

David Ayer promoting Suicide Squad at Comic-Con in 2016Photo: Charley Gallay (Getty Images)

Aaron Taylor Johnson can claim that he “didn’t really care for” his past superhero films all he wants—he’ll never steal David Ayer’s Being Really Upset About It crown. It seems like no one has ever been madder about the trajectory of a major franchise film than Ayer, who has only ramped up his anger over the treatment of his 2016 Suicide Squad over the years.

It may be ancient history at this point (especially in light of all that other method acting discourse), but due to Jared Leto’s, er, particular approach to playing The Joker, as well as some studio over-correction—at least in Ayer’s opinion—his original film was majorly chopped and screwed to create the theatrical release we know and feel kinda whatever about today.

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Ever since James Gunn’s (better-received) stab at The Suicide Squad in 2021, Ayer has been very vocal about the studio release of his own film, which, according to a long Twitter letter, is not really his film at all. “I will no longer speak publicly on this matter,” he said in conclusion. That promise didn’t last long. Only a few months later, he cosigned a statement from Jared Leto supporting the release of the #AyerCut on streaming, and just this month posted on X saying that Gunn (now the CEO of DC Studios) “told me it would have it’s [sic] time to be shared.”

Now, Ayer is once again speaking out. On a recent episode of Jon Bernthal’s “Real Ones” podcast, the host asked Ayer to share his biggest Hollywood heartbreak. “Hollywood… is like watching someone you love get fucked by someone you hate,” he answered. “The big one is Suicide Squad. That shit broke me. That handed me my ass.”

“I had the town in my hand [after releasing Fury]—could’ve done anything, and I did do anything,” he 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… 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.’”

Per Ayer’s 2021 letter, “if someone says they have seen [#TheAyerCut], they haven’t,” so maybe it really is the “dark, soulful movie” he keeps promising. Or… maybe it’s just a lot more Jared Leto. Either way, it sounds like we may yet know—that is, if Ayer actually had the conversations with DC he claims to have had (which, at least in relation to other studio personnel, is not a guarantee).