Suicide Squad Editor David Hickman Reveals David Ayer’s Original Cut Had “Less Comedy” And Was “Much Darker”
It’s been said enough to the point of becoming common knowledge, but David Ayer’s intended vision for the Suicide Squad wasn’t the film that was released in 2016.
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Over the years, Ayer has been adamant that some scenes were changed or outright cut, and in some instances, has presented the evidence to support his claims.
Now, Suicide Squad editor David Hickman has offered up his own support of Ayer’s assertions, sharing his side of the story regarding the film’s production and giving further insight into what Ayer’s vision was really like.
In a new interview with CinemaBlend, Hickman compared the Suicide Squad that was to a Black Hawk Down-style war movie, saying it was “much darker” than what ended up in theaters.
“I saw what David was trying to do with the film and I thought it was a pretty bold film,” he said. “It was less comedy. It was a much darker film. It was almost like a Black Hawk Down type thing. It was just very militarized, very serious.”
Set in the Snyderverse, Suicide Squad was going to be an overall grittier film, featuring a scaled back amount of comedy compared to its theatrical release.
However, ‘occasional’ moments of comedy weren’t good enough for the studio, and Warner Bros. pushed for re-edits to lighten the tone because they reportedly wanted to make the film more like Deadpool, which was very successful for Fox earlier that year.
“I mean, of course, there were supposed to be comedic moments with Will Smith, but it was a darker film,” Hickman continued. “I like where David was going with it and it would be really nice to see him be able to finish what he started.”
In the wake of the completion of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, which is still highly in-demand on HBO Max, both fans and Ayer himself have pleaded for his cut of the film to be released, even starting a #ReleaseTheAyerCut campaign on social media. However, these efforts have thus far gone unrewarded.
The most notable difference between the two versions of the film is the screen time afforded to Jared Leto’s bolder, more unhinged take on Gotham’s Clown Prince of Crime otherwise known as the Joker.
To that end, Hickman reaffirmed that there would’ve been more of Leto to go around in the Ayer Cut, but notes that it was just hard to figure out how much of him to put in.
“Jared Leto, I thought, did a really good job of playing the Joker. I know there’s a lot of opinions on the matter, but I really liked what he did,” Hickman stated. “He really brought a psychotic character to life and because of the running time and because Jared provided so much material we were not able to use a lot of it.”
Hickman also confirms Leto brought his method acting to the table and went all out in ways that sometimes didn’t serve the film.
“And for a lot of the material, we just couldn’t find a purpose for it because sometimes he would just go off on such crazy, insane tangents and it would be really hard to weave it into the film,” Hickman said. “Sometimes it just wasn’t appropriate for what he was doing but, it would have been nice to have more of that Joker character a little bit more fleshed out then what came out in the movie.”
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The Joker was supposed to play a part in the film’s finale according to a script page Ayer shared a photo of a while back, which would have resulted in a far different ending than the tacked on one released to moviegoers. Alas, Leto’s crazy tour de force was not to be.
Ultimately, Hickman succintly summed up his thoughts, “I would like to see David [Ayer]’s final version of the film.”
While there is hope it could still see the light of day like its cousin The Snyder Cut, by most accounts, WB isn’t currently inclined to make it happen.
Did Hickman’s comments piqueyour interest in the Ayer Cut’s release? Let us know on social media or in the comments down below!
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