David Ayer Claims His Suicide Squad Was ‘Beaten into a Comedy’

David Ayer is pushing hard for his cut of Suicide Squad to get the same treatment that Zack Snyder’s Justice League is now receiving on HBO Max. The director has said for years that the film released was not his, but thanks to the recent Justice League news, Ayer is speaking up again about his version, saying now that his cut of the film was not the “comedy” that WB finally released, and it’s because of Batman v Superman sucking and Deadpool making heaps of money.

This trailer nailed the tone and intention of the film I made. Methodical. Layered. Complex, beautiful and sad. After the BVS reviews shell shocked the leadership at the time, and the success of Deadpool – My soulful drama was beaten into a “comedy” https://t.co/vrMw8QE2iZ

— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) May 30, 2020

Depending how you look at it, this flies directly in the face of what Ayer said before the film released. Reports were flying that the studio wanted more humor and that that was why reshoots and different edits were being done, but Ayer took to Twitter back in 2016 to deny that they were about adding more comedy to the film:

#SuicideSquad “reshoots for humor” is silly. When a studio loves your movie and asks what else you want, go for it! #ThanksWB #moreaction

— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) April 11, 2016

The trailer being referred to was definitely darker in tone and hinted at far more complex characters than we got in the final film (not that high a bar). However, even back when reports of multiple edits and trouble with tone were coming out before the film even released, it seemed pretty obvious that Warner Bros. was reacting with panic to the pummeling that the relentlessly dire Batman v. Superman received and the love that the R-rated Deadpool saw. There’s an argument to be made that Guardians of the Galaxy‘s rag-tag comedy “outlaws” also influenced WB’s desire to change Ayer’s film. The studio clearly saw what it thought was a blueprint and tried to force Ayer’s film into it — according to the director.

We will probably never know if Ayer’s supposedly methodical, layered, complex, beautiful, and sad version of Suicide Squad would have been any good. There aren’t any reports of Warner Media actually being interested in releasing Ayer’s version of the film, especially with James Gunn relaunching the franchise soon. Ayer, however, doesn’t hold a grudge against the studio and, in fact, stood up for it:

They do. They absolutely do. This was just a moment in the past – Those involved have moved on. The studio is in a great place today and encouraging filmmakers to make their vision. 🙌🏻🎬❤️ https://t.co/AhOhgvn5Qi

— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) May 30, 2020