Ayer Addresses ‘Suicide Squad’ Diversity

by Eric Lee
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Recently, Hollywood has been called out for not having a lot of racial diversity and representation in their films. For Suicide Squad director David Ayer, his multi-ethnic cast is not just highly diverse, it comes organically. Here is Ayer on the subject:

“[Having racial diversity] is less about ticking boxes. It’s important for kids to see people who look like them in movies.”

Suicide Squad‘s core cast boasts of  only three white male actors (Jared Leto, Jai Courtney, and Joel Kinnaman), with the rest being female and/or people of color (Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, Cara Delevingne, Karen Fukuhara, Will Smith, Jay Herenandez, Adam Beach, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Abaje). And with the exception of Smith’s Deadshot and Beach’s Slipknot, the characters’ ethnicity and gender were taken directly from the comic book source material.

When compared to DC Comics’ rival Marvel Studios, Suicide Squad’s casting felt more willing to fill their film with representation. Here is co-founder of the African-American Critics Association Shawn Edwards on the topic:

“The mix is natural, it’s organic and I applaud them. It’s a beautiful thing to see… I’m glad that finally a franchise in a comic-book universe has gotten it right. Marvel [was] very slow to the diversity party.”

Suicide Squad hits theaters August 5, 2016.

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