Suicide Squad Director David Ayer Says His Cut of the Movie Does Exist

David Ayer says his cut of Suicide Squad does exist. The director has gotten renewed attention for his DC Comics film in the days since Warner Bros. Pictures announced Zack Snyder’s Justice League is headed for HBO Max in 2021. Suicide Squad went through significant changes in reshoots before it opened theaters in 2016. The Snyder Cut announcement has fans hoping that Ayer’s original version of the film will also see the light of day. On Twitter, Ayer confirmed that his cut of the film exists, sans some post-production effects. “Of course it exists,” Ayer tweeted (as translated from Spanish into English via Google ). “And it is almost complete except for some visual effects.”

It makes sense that Ayer’s cut of the movie exists in some form. That’s how movies are made. The director puts together their cut of the film, then the producers and the studio come in and have their say before putting the movie through the lengthy and expensive post-production process. That’s why director’s cut releases exist at all. While fans are eager for Warner Bros. Pictures to “Release the Ayer Cut,” Ayer himself seems skeptical that it will ever happen. “It is simply not my call or my IP,” Ayer tweeted. “I love WB – it’s always been my’ home studio’ I fully respect and support the incredible path the DCU is taking under their stewardship. My cut of Suicide Squad may always be just a rumor. And that’s just fine.

The director revealed some of the changes that were made to the film after principal photography wrapped. He wanted Diablo to survive the movie, and Deadshot and Harley Quinn to fall for each other. He envisioned a different opening scene, one that involved June Moone and Enchantress. There was also a cut scene where Joker drove Tattoo Man to suicide. Despite the changes, Ayer backed the theatrical cut off the film in the past, saying the released cut was his cut.

“This cut of the movie is my cut. There’s no sort of parallel universe version of the movie, the released movie is my cut,” Ayer said in 2017. “And that’s one of the toughest things about writing, shooting, and directing a film, is you end up with these orphans and you f—ing love them and you think they’d be amazing scenes and do these amazing things but the film is a dictatorship, not a democracy, and just because something’s cool and charismatic doesn’t mean it gets to survive in the final cut. The flow of the movie is the highest master.”

Warner Bros. hired James Gunn to take a new approach to the DC Comics team in The Suicide Squad. Margot Robbie is returning as Harley Quinn along with some of the original film’s other stars. Those involved with Gunn’s film say it is not a sequel to Ayer’s movie. The Suicide Squad opens in theaters on August 21, 2021.