Hearing Shia LaBeouf cited as the voice of reason isn’t a sentiment you’re likely to hear all that often, but even when he weighed in on the prospect of his Fury director David Ayer making the leap to studio blockbusters with Suicide Squad, the controversial actor still managed to do so in his own bespoke way. 663q6k

By the time the two collaborated on the World War II tank thriller – which of course featured LaBeouf doing his tried-and-trusted shtick of going a little too method in his preparations – the former Disney star had sworn off big budget productions entirely after previously being positioned as one of the most bankable and popular young talents in the industry.

As regaled by Jon Bernthal on his Real Ones podcast, though, the opinionated thespian didn’t even relay his concerns in private, but instead decided to rail against the mere notion of the filmmaker tackling Suicide Squad while Ayer was in the middle of talking to an A-lister about a potential role in the production.

“I being in some fancy room in some fancy-ass f*cking hotel, and you were meeting – I can’t probably f*cking talk about it – you were meeting like a very famous actor and horribly unlucky to you guys, you got seated next to me and Shia, meeting about Suicide Squad. And Shia got up. He was like, ‘What the f*ck, G?’ ‘Why are you doing this f*cking movie, f*ck you [gesturing at the star] for even wanting to be in this movie. You’re throwing it away, bro, don’t even do it.”

Summing up his feelings on what happened on Suicide Squad in a nutshell, Ayer then let out a sigh of resignation and said he “shoulda listened to him.” Hardly the most professional conduct from LaBeouf, but he did end up being proven right.

David Ayer would be well within his rights to stay as far away from DC as possible after the way Suicide Squad was ripped from his hands and turned into something he never imagined it becoming, but then again, that would end any and all hopes of his infamous Director’s Cut finally becoming a reality.

The filmmaker has been open, honest, and engaging for years when it comes to the fabled original edition of the box office bonanza that still ranks as the worst-reviewed movie in DCEU history, but he still refuses to abandon his dream of allowing audiences the world over to witness what he initially had in store.

Not only that, but he’d happily entertain the idea of reuniting with the star of the resurgent Street Kings for a sequel that was officially announced a while back. However, the downside is that nobody seems willing to confirm or deny whether or not Keanu Reeves’ Constantine 2 is actually going to happen.

Reeves, screenwriter/producer Akiva Goldsman, and director Francis Lawrence all want to make it happen, and the prospect of an R-rated comic book blockbuster starring one of the most popular names in the business that exists as the follow-up to an undisputed cult classic seems too good to turn down, although the ball remains completely and utterly in James Gunn and Peter Safran’s court when it comes to pulling the trigger.

With the director’s chair already filled, though, even if Constantine 2 escapes the fiery bowels of development hell, it won’t be Ayer wielding the megaphone.

Social media can be a rampant cesspool of bile and hatred even at the best of times, something Suicide Squad director David Ayer knows all too well after he’s spent a lot of time and exponentially more effort navigating both sides of the divide.

The filmmaker is happy to share new insights, details, and behind the scenes images from his ill-fated DC debut that was ripped out of his hands, recut into something he never intended it to be and then sent out into the world to make a ton of money while taking a critical pounding, but he’s also developed a habit for taking on his trolls head-on, and doing so with no minor degree of grace and panache.

Unsurprisingly, he’s been at it again after being branded a liar by a butthurt who made a point of noting that unlike the beloved Zack Snyder, he’d never gone public with his feelings on Suicide Squad‘s theatrical cut until long after the dust had settled. Naturally, Ayer was there to ladle on the kindness.

Of course, it’s not as if the person who’d been paid by Warner Bros. to direct Suicide Squad was going to trash it on every single red carpet given that you’d imagine he was contractually forbidden from doing so, and it’s not as if he’s the first creative to retrospectively trash their own work after toeing the party line right up until enough distance had formed to let rip.

Then again, the Ayer Cut saga is obligated to continue, so it’s only fair that both parties get involved.

It’s been seven years since Suicide Squad hit theaters, but director David Ayer refuses to let the movie be forgotten. On social media he consistently cheerleads his version of the movie before interfering Warner Bros. executives denied him the final cut, substantially altered several character arcs, and left a huge amount of material on the cutting room floor.

Now, in a somewhat snippy exchange with some fans, he’s been accused of “making things up.” In response to a tweet wondering why one particular Joker scene was radically altered, Ayer replied that the “reshoot changed scene drastically”. @AviSipsTea commented: “This is one of those times where it might be worth elaborating so we know if you’re not just making things up”. Oof.

As one subsequent reply put it: “Imagine thinking you know more about a movie than the guy who WROTE AND DIRECTED THE MOVIE!!”. Quite.

Naturally, none of this gives us any new indication of whether we’re ever going to see the fabled Ayer Cut. As per the filmmaker, his version is essentially complete and only requires some minor musical work to bring it up to release standard, though Warner Bros. seems uninterested in ever releasing it. There has recently been speculation that Gunn was open to the idea, but Ayer quickly confirmed “Silly rumor. Not True.“

We’re fairly sure that one day Ayer’s Suicide Squad will be released, though we may be waiting some time. Then again, with the Hollywood strikes soon resulting in a content drought, perhaps it’s time to put the finishing touches to Suicide Squad and get it up on Max?

The simplest solution for David Ayer to avoid getting dragged into yet another debate over whether or not the world really needs to see his cut of Suicide Squad would be for the filmmaker to block out the negativity entirely, because there seems to be a lot more people out there awaiting the mythical version than denigrating it.

Of course, there’s always going to be a vocal minority who fall into the latter camp, and they’ve made a regular habit of appearing on the End of Watch and Fury director’s social media s to continue questioning why he continues to tout an unreleased version of a commercially successful but critically-panned comic book adaptation that released seven summers ago and hasn’t been usurped as the DCEU’s worst-reviewed installment.

It would be easy for Ayer to ignore them completely and continue espousing his thoughts on just why he needs the catharsis of Suicide Squad‘s initial edition being made available for public consumption, but on the other hand he should definitely be commended for repeatedly killing the naysayers with kindness, something he’s been displaying again for not even the first time this past weekend.

Blocking out the noise would definitely be a lot easier, but it’s obvious that Ayer is so ionate about the ins, outs, ifs, buts, and maybes of Suicide Squad being wrenched from his grasp and butchered into something he never wanted it to be that he’s keen to tackle questions covering all ends of the spectrum, ranging from unbridled positivity to outright bile.

Fair play to him, then, although it remains to be seen if he’ll get his wish of having the Ayer Cut made real, but you wouldn’t bet against it seeing as the Snyder Cut of Justice League proved to be a sensation for Warner Bros. both on streaming and on home video.

Few franchises of the modern era have been left stained by the grubby fingerprints of studio interference more often than the DCU, something Suicide Squad director David Ayer knows better than most.

Of course, he’s not the only one when Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), Wonder Woman, and The Flash were all tampered with to various degrees, but that’s only one of the many reasons why audiences have been turning their backs on the superhero sandbox in their numbers.

Having endured three consecutive box office bombs this year alone, the odds are growing increasingly stacked against James Gunn as he seeks to turn the tide of apathy, but speaking from a place of experience, Ayer offered his two cents on social media with a response that’s every bit as factually accurate as it is crushing in its irony.

Obviously, that’s precisely the reason why Ayer is touting creativity as a potential savior, and it certainly helps exponentially that Gunn knows his way around both acclaimed comic book adaptations and expansive world-building as he seeks to reinvigorate the flagging DCU in his own image.

The big screen side of the reboot doesn’t kick off until Superman: Legacy lands in the summer of 2025, so there’s plenty of time to get everybody back onside with the saga’s brave new era. Sure, the SnyderVerse subset will remain furious at the very thought of anything that isn’t tied to what came before, but they’re not the ones being catered to at the end of the day.

There aren’t many fandoms divided quite like the denizens of the DCU, and the ongoing saga of David Ayer‘s original cut of Suicide Squad neatly distills the issue down to its essence.

On one hand, the filmmaker himself and a huge section of franchise fanatics refuse to give up on the prospect of restoring his initial vision for the maligned blockbuster and having it released into the world for all to see, with history very much on their side after Zack Snyder’s Justice League became a substantial hit after making the transition from pipedream to product.

On the other, though, are the folks who continually trash the writer and director for continuing to cling onto an alternate cut for a box office smash hit that released seven years ago, albeit one that seized the unwanted mantle of the DCU’s worst-reviewed installment ever and has refused to let go ever since.

Needless to say, one of the main reasons why Ayer won’t abandon hope is because he was stung so deeply by what happened to the film, something he outlined to one of the trolls who infiltrated his timeline begging him to give up.

Not only that, but he then attempted to kill them with nothing but kindness, taking an unreasonably sympathetic approach considering he was dealing with somebody who went out of their way to sh*t on his dream of making his iteration of Suicide Squad a reality.

The chances remain 50/50 with the ball firmly in James Gunn’s court, but you can guarantee Ayer won’t be resting on his laurels until it happens for real.

Having spent the last seven years entrenched in the ongoing campaign to see his original cut of Suicide Squad released, David Ayer knows a thing or two about studio politics. That being said, his issues dealing with major entities goes back way further than that, because very rarely does he get credited for his key role in turning Fast & Furious into what it is today.

The filmmaker rewrote the original screenplay by Gary Scott Thompson and Erik Bergquist and implemented several elements that would become recurring motifs of the franchise for the next two decades, which helped transform the 2001 street racing thriller from a glorified B-movie into the launchpad for one of the biggest brands in the history of cinema.

Reflecting on his overlooked and unfairly ignored contributions during an appearance on Jon Bernthal’s Real Ones podcast, Ayer didn’t hold back when it came to airing his grievances.

“Biggest franchise in Hollywood, and I don’t have any of it. I got nothing to show for it, nothing, because of the way the business works. When I got that script, that sh*t was set in New York, it was all Italian kids, right? I’m like, ‘Bro, I’m not gonna take it unless I can set it in L.A. and make it look like the people I know in L.A., right?’ So then I started, like, writing in people of color, and writing in the street stuff, and writing in the culture, and no one knew sh*t about street racing at the time… The narrative is I didn’t do sh*t, right? It’s like people hijack narratives, control narratives, create narratives to empower themselves, right? F*ck all the middlemen, right? I get it.”

Looking at where The Fast Saga is now compared to its humble origins – and how embedded the DNA of Ayer’s rewrites remain entrenched in the formula – it’s completely understandable that he’s still feeling sidelined for playing such an unheralded yet important role in such a huge IP.

For a number of different reasons, the Ayer Cut of Suicide Squad has found itself in a unique position where everybody wants the never-ending saga to draw to a close.

In one corner you’ve got the filmmaker and his loyal ers who continue keeping the abandoned vision for the DCEU’s antihero ensemble at the forefront of the conversation, seven years and change after it hit theaters to make a killing at the box office at the same time it became the franchise’s worst-reviewed installment, a tag it’ll never be able to get rid of unless things go seriously awry for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

On the other hand, the detractors would be happy to see the original iteration of the comic book caper released for the sole purpose that they wouldn’t have to hear about it anymore, but at least it puts the majority in agreement. Of course, there are still some who wish Ayer would simply give up and stop talking about Suicide Squad altogether, and as he tends to do more often than not, the filmmaker offered a thoughtful, reasoned reply to one such social media .

Based entirely on how disappointing Suicide Squad turned out to be, it wouldn’t exactly be difficult for Ayer to exceed the abysmal effort that ended up on the screen, and it would be a damn sight cheaper to produce than Zack Snyder’s heavily-reworked Justice League cut, too.

The ball remains firmly in James Gunn’s court, though, and having already dashed hopes already that it was on the cusp of becoming official, the waiting game is cursed to carry on for at least a little while longer.

Director David Ayer is 100 percent owning up to one of the most hated details found in the divisive 2016 film Suicide Squad.

The idea in question is the notoriously roasted “damaged” tattoo that Jared Leto’s Joker sports in the film on his forehead. As Ayer explained in a post on X (formerly Twitter), “I own the tattoo idea 100%.”

Ayer went on to explain that the original idea was for the tattoo to read “Blessed.” Still, he said the tattoo idea was his “choice” and that he regrets the decision.

“It created acrimony and division. Not every idea is a good idea. And I’ll just be in the corner here while the internet slaps me around for this post. ”

Recently, Ayer name-dropped newly appointed DC Studios Co-CEO James Gunn in a Twitter post, saying the director-turned-executive told him his original version of Suicide Squad would see the light of day in some capacity at some point. Gunn notably helmed a sequel as writer-director to Ayer’s original, 2021’s The Suicide Squad.

Even after Ayer announced, it is still unclear whether his cut of the critically maligned 2016 film will truly see the light of day in the same vein as Zack Snyder’s Justice League. At the very least, Ayer debunked the claim his Suicide Squad cut would release before the beginning of Gunn’s DC Universe, the rebooted franchise that is set to kick off with 2025’s Superman: Legacy.

Like ZSJL, Suicide Squad was allegedly heavily meddled with after its completion due to studio interference to the point that it lacked the initially intended tone of the director. Ayer has even referenced deleted scenes, occasionally sharing clips on his Twitter .

Regardless of whether or not we will ever get to see the Ayer cut of Suicide Squad, at least we can be assured that the director is owning up to aspects of the film that went wrong, for which he only has himself to blame.

It’s common knowledge that 2016’s Suicide Squad ended up as a very different movie than its director, David Ayer, intended. After the poor critical reception of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Warner Bros. executives panicked and mandated heavy reshoots, alterations to the plot, left a lot of shot footage on the cutting room floor, and effectively took the final cut out of Ayer’s hands.

Now Ayer has addressed one specific element of this production chaos. The DCEU was planned to emulate the interconnected stories of the MCU, with Suicide Squad once intended to pave the way for Justice League. In Ayer’s version, the villain Enchantress was under the control of a Mother Box and she would have been laying the ground for Steppenwolf’s appearance in the next DCEU movie.

Now, as per Ayer, he had to “adjust fast” to being ordered to strip this out of the movie:

Zack Snyder’s Justice League eventually arrived and was unambiguously an improvement on the terrible theatrical cut, so could ‘David Ayer’s Suicide Squad’ also be in with a chance of release? Hopes were recently raised after reports that James Gunn was planning to officially release “The Ayer Cut.” Sadly, Ayer himself quickly poured cold water on this, saying: “Silly rumor. Not true.“

Even so, with the Hollywood strikes paralyzing new productions, perhaps Warner Bros. might realize they have a practically complete alternative cut of a hit movie on their hands and consider putting in the work to get it on Max? We can but hope.

Warner Bros. has gained itself quite the reputation for getting its grubby fingerprints all over the DCEU, something James Gunn has promised to rectify once he drops the “E” and relaunches the franchise with Creature Commandos and Superman: Legacy.

While Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman, and Justice League were all tampered with to varying degrees, none were butchered quite as badly as David Ayer’s Suicide Squad. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last seven years, though, it’s clear that neither the filmmaker nor his fans are willing to give up until they get to see his unfiltered vision for the dismal dud.

Ayer has made a habit of dropping tidbits on social media that outline his original intentions for the antihero ensemble, and his latest nuggets of new information have left jaws on the floor after he intimated that Suicide Squad‘s connections to the overarching mythology of the SnyderVerse were initially a lot deeper than once thought.

Why didn’t that happen? According to Ayer, because the cut was wrestled away from his control and transformed into something it wasn’t supposed to be.

Not for the first time, either, he explicitly named a certain Marvel superhero with a penchant for breaking the fourth wall and earning big bucks at the box office as the problem.

For now, the wait for the Ayer Cut of Suicide Squad goes on, but you’ve got to imagine we’ll end up seeing it one day after Zack Snyder’s Justice League proved to be such a huge phenomenon, regardless of how much Gunn is attempting to distance his DCU from what came before.