Suicide Squad Producers Describe Core Lineup

07/11/2016 01:08 pm EDT

For the most part, mainstream moviegoers have very little context for the members of DC's Suicide Squad.

So far, that's fairly unique for Warner Bros., who have routinely made Batman and Superman the focus of their films, and who just introduced The Flash, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman -- all household names -- for the first time onscreen.

Suicide Squad, though, is a curiosity. A team composed of villains, the movie will trace them as they battle a mysterious adversary with tendrils in the magical world. The Joker, of course, is known to just about anybody who's ever picked up a comic book or watched a superhero movie...but beyond that? Maybe you saw Harley Quinn on a cartoon once, right? And hey! They've got Will Smith playing that character you saw in a few episodes of Arrow, if that's your thing. Viola Davis is reprising the role everybody already forgot Angela Basset played in Green Lantern.

So...during a recent set visit, what did the film's producers have to say about the motley crew they've assembled?

Enchantress: "She is a witch. I think sorcerer is one way to describe her, but at the end of the day, she's a witch. I think, what would a contemporary, modern day witch look like? Plus, I think trying to take her old look, which is closer to right here, and contemporize it and make it a little bit darker and a little more witch-like. A little bit more grounded, a little bit more real." - Producer Andy Horwitz

Captain Boomerang: "Jai Courtney, Captain Boomerang. A great actor and a great guy. One of the fun things about this character is that I've not seen every film Jai has made but I've probably seen most of them and I don't think he's ever been able to play a role that allows him to really be funny and he's incredibly funny. You can just look at him and I'm sure the way you would describe him without me telling you what he does in the movie would probably be very close to what I'm about to say. He is a wise ass. He's a hunk to a certain extent and he's got an incredible wise cracking sense of humor. At the same time, he is equally dangerous and has these very dangerous boomerangs, one of which he's holding. Now there is a boomerang that is actually a drone boomerang, which plays a role in the movie. He's just a fun character that shakes things up and also has a level of unpredictability as well." - Producer Richard Suckle

Deadshot: "Obviously great to have Will [Smith] in this movie. He's a fantastic leader, not only as Deadshot but also as just a person. He really is and I'd heard great things about it and everything I heard is true. He's a great leader. He's a fantastic guy and he is just an amazing presence and has such a great positivity and so happy to be here and be a part of the movie and his energy is infectious. [David Ayer], of course, as the writer/director, it all sort of flows from him, but Will equally I think brings so much great energy and vibe to the movie. It's a great character. He's got a great back story. That's one of the things I love about what David's done. In addition to them being this dysfunctional, rag tag, Dirty Dozen-like group that has to come together to go on this mission and hopefully succeed, David's done a great job of giving you back stories and understanding these characters beyond what you would just see on the surface as bad guys that are forced to go do something because Amanda Waller is telling them they have to. Rick Flag, and it's sort of the proverbial parent having to sort of try to keep this group in line. Starting with Deadshot, he's got a fantastic back story and you get to see things about these characters that I truly don't think you necessarily get to see in comic book films and that's something that gives these characters a tremendous amount of emotional depth and you really connect with them emotionally, which is challenging when you're taking characters that are really villainous and bad guys and having to root for them." - Suckle

Harley Quinn: "Margot has just been doing an incredible job with Harley, blowing us away every single day on set with what she's willing to do and what she can do. I think we've taken some liberties with the creative with the character and obviously had some fun up there, but of course gave you some of the iconic stuff that you always know about her. Her 'Good Night' bat, of course, is a big part of the movie. She carries it for most of it. We created a special gun for her, which is her love/hate gun that she carries around." - Horwitz

Katana: "Karen Fukuhara is a young actress who won the role through auditioning. We needed to find a Japanese or a Japanese American actress, which we did. One of the other things we were hoping to find, which we did, is an actress who also had a level of proficiency in martial arts, which Karen did which was helpful. Of course, when you have actors, as much as you can show the stunt doubles, it's a lot better and much more realistic if you can have your actors doing things themselves. She brought that already to the party and has been a great find. As Andy said earlier, she works really hard. I don't know how many but it's not that many times where she hasn't done the stunt herself. She has a lot of stunts that she actually has to perform as this character and it's been an amazing, amazing journey for her. She'll tell you. She's wonderful in the film. She works hard and has really embodied Katana. It's a great character because the whole story with the Soul Taker and how her dead husband is trapped in the sword, and she speaks to it. It's really, I have to say, emotional. It's really wonderful." - Suckle

"She's kind of like the whip, I think, when Flag needs to crack the whip. She's the one that helps do that. I think as you saw in the trailer, there's a moment where she throws Boomerang up against the wall. She's a scary little girl, I will say. Everyone knows it in the movie." - Horwitz

Killer Croc: "I think Killer Croc is one of the characters that most people are really excited for. He's obviously a classic Batman villain, and for us I think when approaching the character, I think the first thing that David said we all agreed is we're not having a full CG character in this movie. It was something that, once we committed to that idea, it was quite a commitment because as you can see, his makeup and his prosthetics are incredible. I've never seen anything like it on set. He truly does, and you guys will see him tonight, he looks amazing. You can sit one foot away from his face and stare at him and you can't figure out if it's real or if it's not. It's three hours in the chair every single day for him and it's quite a commitment, but he's really brought something amazing to the character. He's not just a guy with a ton of prosthetics on. He's figured out ways to move his face underneath that prosthetic that does interesting things, and he's really worked with it with the teeth and how to blink. He's really not just wearing that, he's really doing quite a performance. He's figured out an interesting way to walk and to move and to talk. I think he's going to be one of the fan favorites in terms of what he does in the movie because it's quite cool." - Horwitz

The Joker: "I don't think it's a surprise to say that the Joker and Harley's relationship and a good portion of the story is very important in this film, so you can draw from what you want but the Joker/Harley relationship is key and it's something that is very important in this movie in addition to the actual Suicide Squad themselves and the mission that they're going on. It's a very important relationship that we explore many things about....One of the cool things also about the Joker that we talk about is David's take on him is, he's a business man. He's crazy of course, and he kills people, but he's super right. He's running a business. If you could imagine the head of any successful corporation, he runs his business that way. He just happens to be a psychopath. He's very, very conscientious of his business and he's also very conscientious of the way he dresses. Style is a really big part of this Joker. It would be important to him to know what next year's Prada would be like because he may want to have it a year before everybody else. He sets trends and that's a really cool character and I really think you haven't seen the version of this Joker ever before, and of course there have been great people and great versions of the character." - Suckle

It feels good to be bad…

Assemble a team of the world's most dangerous, incarcerated Super Villains, provide them with the most powerful arsenal at the government's disposal, and send them off on a mission to defeat an enigmatic, insuperable entity. U.S. intelligence officer Amanda Waller has determined only a secretly convened group of disparate, despicable individuals with next to nothing to lose will do. However, once they realize they weren't picked to succeed but chosen for their patent culpability when they inevitably fail, will the Suicide Squad resolve to die trying, or decide it's every man for himself?

Suicide Squad hits theaters August 5, 2016.

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