After seeing Suicide Squad, questionable DC fan Will Rowlands found David Ayer emotional and nervous about his thoughts on the film, as years of , the director bears a lot of hatred because his work has become unrecognizable behind his back.
Rowlands said he had signed a non-disclosure agreement explaining why he was on the set of “The Beekeeper,” but was allowed to talk about Ayer’s “Suicide Squad,” which he screened on his personal device. did not violate any contract. Rowlands expressed his obsession with it, saying that Al’s Suicide Squad was superior to the theatrical cut, with a tone consistent with the original Comic-Con Suicide Squad trailer.
Related: David Ayer still holds out hope for ‘Suicide Squad’ director’s cut
Rowlands interviewed SkiiWalker, a key figure in the plans to sell the Snyderverse to Netflix, about Ayer’s Suicide Squad, revealing key details and more about the studio’s post-production interventions. After Ayer submitted the film to the studio, Warner Bros. conducted a secret re-edit without Ayer’s knowledge. Rowlands detailed Ayer’s cut of Suicide Squad, which runs at around 2 hours and 24 minutes, 10 minutes longer than the studio cut. There were about 45 minutes of unseen footage and original scenes before reshoots. This unseen footage includes “more, more” of Ben Affleck’s Batman in a way that has a deeper connection to Batman v Superman, and more of Jared Leto’s Joker, Rowlands described it as “cruel”. This echoes Ayer’s previous sentiments, in which he said Leto’s performance was “torn to shreds” in the theatrical cut.
Rowlands says there is more in-depth character work in the first 20 minutes of Ayer’s Suicide Squad than the entire studio cut, including the soundtrack replaced by Warner Bros. songs. Rowlands said June and Enchantress’ character arcs are more “full and meaningful,” and Harley Quinn’s story arc is liberating, which Rowlands described as empowering women, rather than Harley returning in the studio cut clown. Scott Eastwood’s character is also “a relevant part of the story” rather than a one-off, and there’s more of Will Smith’s Deadshot and his daughter, but “nobody’s selling Superman T-shirts.”
Aside from the minimal VFX work that needed to be done, the Ayer cut was clearly done and is said to still look better and livelier than the studio cut. Ayer told Rowlands that there is hope, and that the director wants fans to keep fighting for it, suggesting something might be brewing behind closed doors. With the reboot of the DCU, DC Studios is heading in a new direction; however, the release of Batman v Superman Ultimate Edition and Zack Snyder’s Justice League is only the first step in the foreshadowing, although Warner Bros. believes that the Snyder cut version is a mistake. For some, what Warner Bros. discovered may not realize that they can’t go into the sunset unscathed by ignoring past mistakes, because righting past mistakes is the same as looking to the future.
Suicide Squad is available on HBO Max.