After the Snyder Cut: Is the Ayer Cut of "Suicide Squad" Coming?
James Gunn talks about upcoming projects for the first time since being named co-CEO of DC Studios. Among them: David Ayer's "Suicide Squad" and "Legends of Tomorrow". Can fans get their hopes up?
"We're listening to you and we're open to anything," said James Gunn in a series of recent tweets aimed directly at fans. Not only that, the new (and first) co-CEO of the newly formed DC Studios raised quiet hopes. After all, he noted, he had heard the fans' call for the Ayer cut of "Suicide Squad" and the revival of the "Legends of Tomorrow" series.
But:
"Our whole focus is on the future first, on continuing the DCU. But most importantly, on telling the greatest story ever in multiple films, television shows and animation projects."
The PR campaign for the new studio continues
Pure calculation? Perhaps. Gunn knows about the tarnished reputation of comic book adaptations from his own studio. Involving the fans in its new direction is smart. That's exactly why he was brought on board by Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav: To get the cinematic DC Comics Universe (new: DCU) back on track. Gunn's tweets nevertheless have something explosive about them. "Suicide Squad" is DC's biggest disaster to date. But it is not director David Ayer who is to blame, but the studio itself.
We remember: When the fun and campy trailer for the film with "Bohemian Rhapsody" background music was released at the beginning of 2016, the hype for the film reached its peak - and sent Warner Bros. into a panic. The reason is Ayer's version: it is much darker than the trailer. Warner fears a similar PR fiasco as with the equally dark "Batman v. Superman". In a knee-jerk reaction, the studio therefore employs the same company that edited the trailer to cut a completely new version of the film from material shot by Ayers. At the same time, several million are loosened up to shoot new, funny scenes to match the original trailer. The result of the chaos: perhaps the worst comic book adaptation of the past decade.
Five years later, it would be director James Gunn, of all people, who would revive the franchise with his soft reboot "The Suicide Squad." The series spin-off "Peacemaker" is even more popular. Now Gunn - thanks to "The Suicide Squad" success - has risen to studio boss. If he were to retrieve the Ayer cut from the depths of the Warner Bros. archives and release it, it would have something poetic about it .
I'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.»