In this age of Hollywood, it’s rare form when a studio gives a filmmaker the final say on creative direction. That much is apparent across most of the blockbuster landscape, with studio executives chopping movies up on a routine basis. Some directors, however, eventually get to see their passion project come to fruition. Take Zack Snyder as one example. After a widely-panned theatrical release of Justice League, HBO Max gave him the budget to finish the film in his version, releasing Zack Snyder’s Justice League on the streamer at the height of the pandemic.
David Ayer, the filmmaker behind 2016’s Suicide Squad, thinks he can be next. In a new interview with Total Film, Ayer said he feels the “Ayer Cut” will eventually see the light of day.
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“I think so. I’m going to be hopeful. You know, there are a lot of people that are invested in certain narratives that don’t want it to see the light of day,” the filmmaker told the magazine. “So there’s an immense political headwind against it, because if that cut were made public, the cowardliness and the whole just general shittiness of how the film’s been treated, and how the actors have had this great work that they’d done taken away… That narrative blows up once people see the movie. But it’s coming. Something’s going to happen. Something’s going to be revealed. The truth always comes out. It always comes out.”
With the Snyder Cut movement proving fruitful, many of those fans shifted projects and have since lobbied for the release of Ayer’s version, one the director says is infinitely better than the theatrical release.
“My cut isn’t perfect. But it’s vastly better that the studio hack job,” Ayer wrote on Twitter earlier this year. “People have seen it. The typical reaction is shock how much better it is. This is across a sample of ages and fans and non fans. You’re speaking from negativity not openness. Why? 🤷🏻♂️”
The DC Universe officially kicks off with Creature Commandos, which has yet to set a release date, and Superman: Legacy, which enters theaters July 11, 2025. Ayer’s Suicide Squad is currently streaming on Netflix.
What part of Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters excites you most? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter!
