Article by Eric Lee
Suicide Squad director David Ayer has opened up about how Deadpool‘s film success forced changes on his film.
On Twitter, Ayer revealed that Suicide Squad dramatically changed in both tone and plot. We’ve seen that the original cut of the film has significant changes from what was planned, and even from what we saw in early trailers. Among them, Ayer originally poised the Joker as the primary antagonist. However, the theatrical cut shifted the villain to a side-plot.
For sure that became a factor – but the reason was BVS got chewed up by the critics, and the success of Deadpool – the studio leadership at the time panicked. Then major elements of my cut were ripped out before I could mature the edit. Then Johns wrote pages I had to reshoot ? https://t.co/MNmiXoH1Cc
— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) October 31, 2020
According to Ayer, the tone of the film shifted from a character drama to a more comedy-based film. This change in tone is due to the Warner Bros. studio executives panicking after Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice failed to meet box office expectations. Critics believed that the superhero team-up movie was too dour and dark. Meanwhile, Fox’s Deadpool opened as a huge success. The Marvel film boasted of an over-the-top style and wacky comedy.
Due to Deadpool‘s surprise box office earnings, the studio executives requested a change of tone and editing. Comics writer Geoff Johns also re-wrote large chunks of the script. Ayer then re-shot the new script pages.
In the past, Ayer has made similar comments on how BvS’s dark tone affected how Suicide Squad’s direction was.
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
While it is clear that the changes made a wildly different movie, it’s doubtful if any plans for an Ayer-Cut of the film will ever come to fruition.
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