Director David Ayer hasn’t been able to recover from the fact that his version of Suicide Squad never made it to the theatres. Released in 2016, the film was still a commercial success, collecting $749 million worldwide against a $175 million budget. Regardless, Ayer has been vocal about the injustice done to his work, on social media, calling for the fans’ support to urge the DC Studios to release his version of the DCEU film.
As 2023 wraps up, Ayer is optimistic that his work of art might be available to fans in the future. In a recent interview, the Suicide Squad director made a statement on the issue. He emphasized the value of good work, and how the truth can never be hidden forever.
Hopes high for the Ayer Cut
The 55-year-old director has persistently discussed how the studios had meddled with his film, and released a version of their own. Which if worthy wouldn’t have been a problem. But Ayer claimed that he was heartbroken to see the first 40 minutes of Suicide Squad drastically changed from the original cut, per Games Radar. Ayer even took to his Twitter and stated,
“It was ripped to pieces – I can’t emphasize that enough”
https://twitter.com/DavidAyerMovies/status/1322379221608456192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1322379221608456192%7Ctwgr%5E2ca76a2a60f3650d513a901ab722c8f8fa43d1ee%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gamesradar.com%2Fdavid-ayer-says-his-original-suicide-squad-cut-was-ripped-to-pieces-by-the-studio%2F
Even after seven years of its release and success, David Ayer hasn’t budged on his stance that the original cut be released on streaming services. In an interview presented in the 2024 preview issue of Total Film, the American director once again teased the topic of the controversy with Suicide Squad. Commenting on the possibility of the Ayer Cut getting released publicly, Ayer said,
“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 Fury director hinted at the intense political undertone associated with the matter. Ayer boldly stated that the poor narrative of the theatrical cut would be denounced if Ayer’s version, which contains all the thrilling parts, reached the fans.
David Ayer is not ready to back down
Despite no sign of his cut anywhere in the realms of Hollywood, Ayer expressed his gut feeling that something would happen. Previous reports claiming that his version of the film would be repackaged and released on HBO Max were denied by the director. As per the Total Film issue, Ayer added,
“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.”
According to David Ayer, despite the massive box-office smash, Suicide Squad was unable to live to its true potential. With most of the good parts snipped away, the movie took over an erratic plotline that wasn’t convincing for Ayer.
In 2021, another adaptation of the film was made by James Gunn, The Suicide Squad which was widely panned. It also turned into a box-office failure grossing $168 million against a budget of $185 million, per Box Office Mojo. To think of it, there might be some truth to Ayer’s revelations which only time will tell.
