‘Birds of Prey’ Director Sympathizes with the ‘Suicide Squad’ Director
By George Robbins
This pandemic has resulted in a lot of different information coming out lately regarding movies that released a while back. Recently, there has been a lot of information coming out in regards to films in the DCEU and the Warner Bros. film studios. The biggest announcement which sparked so much new information coming out in regards to the studios involvement in their movies was the Snyder cut of the ‘Justice League’ film. This cut of the film has been a rumor on the internet since the movie’s initial release in 2017 and was just cleared for release. So now, the newest version of the film is being worked on and it will release some time in 2021 on HBO Max. This gave hope to fans and pushed them to focus on other films they would also like a special cut of.
After the announcement of the Snyder cut and its upcoming release, ‘Suicide Squad’ director David Ayer has said that he wants a special cut for his film as well. When his movie was first teased, it was an intriguing piece of media for a lot of DC fans because of the promotional material for the film. ‘Suicide Squad’ was going to be its own type of film following the titular villains/ anti-heroes on their mission to save the world. Upon the movie’s release, however, the film turned out different than people were hoping for and people criticized it for its muddled plot and tone. This would have to do with the reshoots that were done before the film released and would apparently be the reason for why the film wasn’t as good as it should have been.
Ayer insisted after the film’s release that the movie was not really changed all that much after its reshoots were finished. This would end up being not at all true according to Ayer recently and he wants to release his own cut of the film. What Ayer has said happened is that Warner Bros. saw how people reacted to ‘Deadpool’ after its release and decided that the film needed a more lighthearted tone which caused the issues that people had for the film. He has said that his original version of the movie was much darker and the plot points and character motivations made more sense in his original cut. If this is true then it is just another example of movie studios getting too involved and not letting directors carry out their intended vision for their film.
James Gunn who is now going to be the director for the newest ‘The Suicide Squad,’ a sequel/reboot of the original, has taken Ayer’s side in this scenario. This does not make him the only director to be on his side because ‘Birds of Prey’ director Cathy Yan took his side as well by replying “I’m so sorry this happened to you, David. I know the pain.” on Twitter. We should all know by now that studios sometimes have a habit of taking things too far and ruining a movie just because they think it will sell better. So with that in mind Ayer is trying to push fans to help make his dream a reality by getting Warner Bros. to sign off on him releasing his own cut which he says is nearly finished anyway. Hopefully, after seeing the support he has on his side, the studio will allow him to finish and release his own cut of the film.