‘Suicide Squad’ Director Throws Shade at the Film’s Final Cut

Suicide Squad director David Ayer made what appears to be a passive-aggressive remark on Twitter suggesting he is unhappy with the final cut of the movie.

Among DC’s controversial post-The Dark Knight releases, perhaps none is more commonly mocked by critics and Film Twitter than David Ayer’s Suicide Squad — and so when relating a story about positive buzz surrounding Aquaman, Twitter user “_BrooklynBatman” gave a number of disclaimers, including “people loved [Suicide Squad] in early screenings.” Ayer chimed in with a remark that will likely get fans buzzing about the film all over again:

There have been rumors since before the movie came out that Suicide Squad had trouble in editing. A viral video essay from Folding Ideas took the film’s editing to task, and during the course of doing so ran down a number of theories and rumors as to why it might have come out the way it did.

The most popular rumor is that backlash from the dark tone of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice made Warner Bros. uncomfortable, and that Ayer’s film — more tonally similar to Batman v Superman in its original form — underwent reshoots and recuts in an effort to bring it closer into line with the film’s trailer, which was clearly inspired by Guardians of the Galaxy.

Ironically, Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn has now been hired on to write and possibly direct the Suicide Squad sequel.

It has long been known that Ayer had another cut which was not the final version, although he has not said much about specific changes, and this is as “negative” as he has gone publicly.

Ayer seems to have drifted away from the property; originally, he was expected to direct Suicide Squad 2, since in spite of poor reviews, the movie performed well at the box office. Eventually he would step away from the sequel to work on Gotham City Sirens with Suicide Squad‘s Margot Robbie reprising her role as Harley Quinn, although he is no longer attached to that property either.

He seems to be happy enough with the current status quo, having spoken up on social media in support of Warners bringing in Gunn.

Suicide Squad 2 is in development, with an expected release date in 2020 or 2021.