Article by Adam Poncharoensub
With Zack Snyder moving forward on additional photography on his new cut of Justice League, director David Ayer remains very active on Twitter. Following the announcement to move forward with the #SnyderCut on HBO Max, a new campaign pushing for the #AyerCut of Suicide Squad was born. Ayer has expressed the desire for people to see his vision of 2016’s Suicide Squad. In response to a recent inquiry, Ayer revealed that the first 40 minutes were the most difficult to remove.
In case you weren’t aware, Suicide Squad was originally intended to be a more grounded, grittier movie. Following the reception to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, WB decided to course correct. They issued a new trailer that was much more high-energy and over-the-top compared to its original Comic-Con first look. With a more positive response, SS was offically re-cut to fit with the tone of the second trailer. Following the release of SS in 2016, Ayer remained quiet regarding the cuts. However, the news of the #SnyderCut becoming a reality lit a fire under him. If you’ve been following David Ayer on Twitter since May 2020, you’d be hard pressed to miss mentions of his original cut of SS.
A couple days ago, someone asked Ayer directly which scene of his cut was the “toughest” to leave behind.
What was the toughest scene to leave on the cutting room floor @DavidAyerMovies #ReleaseTheAyerCut
— The Ayer Cut (@CutAyer) October 30, 2020
Ayer responded:
The first 40 minutes https://t.co/eCGmK0KCFl
— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) October 31, 2020
Forty minutes is a lot of movie
Forty minutes is a significant chunk of time. Your standard feature film is approximately 90 minutes. So we’re talking about half of an average flick. And this was likely a crucial part of the movie that establishes Amanda Waller, Task Force X, and possibly stronger ties to BvS. Also, considering that the theatrical cut of SS was a hair over 2 hours long, the #AyerCut could potentially hit 3 hours. We’re looking at another Ultimate Edition here, folks. And definitely more than that Extended Cut that WB gave when SS hit Blu-ray.
Like I said, 40 minutes a big chunk of time. Therefore, we can only speculate what was in it. Possibly more Joker? The fabled Jared Leto Joker footage that we’ve heard so much about? Also remember the phrasing of the question. Apparently, this was the toughest to remove. That doesn’t mean that it’s all that was removed.
So much speculation, so little time! Either way, WB has made it fairly clear that it’s “not a precedent” at the moment. However, we’ve heard that before, haven’t we?
Stay tuned to DKN for more updates.
The Director’s Cut of Justice League will premiere on HBO Max in 2021.
