Suicide Squad Director David Ayer Laments ‘Brutal and Unfair’ Treatment, Slams Audiences’ Need to Attack Movies

Summary

• Suicide Squad director David Ayer calls on audiences to “celebrate” movies instead of reveling in their failures. He’s found success with his newest film, The Beekeeper.
• Many fans are still hoping for Ayer’s extended cut of Suicide Squad to be released; Ayer says he “made a fantastic movie” that audiences didn’t get to see, and the response to the 2016 film has been “brutal and unfair.”
• Ayer believes that fans should enjoy movies again and not attack them for not meeting their expectations.

Suicide Squad director David Ayer has never held back his opinions on social media, whether discussing his fabled “Ayer Cut” of his 2016 DC movie or mourning the movies he never made. In a new post on X/Twitter (via ComicBook.com), Ayer has called out the need for audiences to “celebrate” when movies fail rather than cheering when they succeed like they used to.

Many fans are still waiting to see if Ayer’s extended cut of Suicide Squad, one that the director has frequently said to be a completely different movie to the theatrical cut, will even be released, and Ayer has said on more than one occasion that the decision is out of his hands. However, fan-power has previously worked when getting the attention of studios, and there is a hope that continually mentioning the movie will make James Gunn and Peter Safran decide that the film can be released as Ayer intended for audiences to see.

However, Ayer believes that fans need to start just enjoying movies again and not looking to enjoy “attacking” films that don’t meet the mark. In his post, Ayer wrote:

“I remember a time before. A time when audiences applauded success. Not cheering on failures. When film meant wonder and magic. Not a means of attack. When movies were enjoyed. Not reverse engineered in hopes of finding ammo to attack. I applaud all my colleagues in the industry. I applaud all the people who work in film. I celebrate those with the courage to share a piece of themselves with the World.”

Ayer recently spoke with MovieWeb about his well-received new film, The Beekeeper, and took a moment to address his feelings about Suicide Squad, saying:

“I’d love to have like a last-rites screening and kind of just put it behind me and reclaim my reputation. I made a fantastic movie. And a lot of what I’ve gone through has just been pretty brutal and unfair. And I’ve taken a lot of blame and a lot of hard hits in the press. It’s like that Eric Andre meme where he shoots the guy and he’s like, ‘Why would you do that?’ So I would love closure, but it’s not something I’m really pursuing at this time. I’m looking forward to an amazing future.”

Related: The Difference Between Suicide Squad (2016) and The Suicide Squad (2021), Explained

Suicide Squad’s Ayer Cut is Still Not Certain to be Released

Talk of an extended cut of David Ayer’s Suicide Squad is nothing new, but the changing of the guard at Warner Bros. Pictures and the creation of DC Studios has further clouded the waters when it comes to the possible release of the movie.

When Gunn and Safran took tenure of the DC franchise, it seemed that the release of the Ayer Cut was the furthest thing from their minds. The new DCU became a priority, and Ayer commented that he had discussed the matter with Gunn, but it was something that would need to be revisited at a later date.

Recently, Ayer didn’t hold back his contempt for the way Suicide Squad was treated on its original release, and pointed out once again that there are many reasons why his cut has not been made available, but suggested that it will be released one way or the other. He told Total Film:

“You know, there are a lot of people that are invested in certain narratives that don’t want it to see the light of day. So there’s an immense political headwind against it, because if that cut were made public, the cowardliness and the whole just general sh*ttiness of how the film’s been treated, and how the actors have had this great work that they’d done taken away… That narrative blows up once people see the movie. But it’s coming. Something’s going to happen. Something’s going to be revealed. The truth always comes out. It always comes out.”

While fans await further news on the Ayer Cut of Suicide Squad, the theatrical version can currently be found at the new home of DC streaming, Netflix, along with most of the DCEU’s early movies.

Suicide Squad

Release Date August 3, 2016

Rating PG-13

Runtime 130

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