A director's cut of 2016's Suicide Squad exists, and new DCU boss James Gunn has reportedly not ruled out its potential release.
After an image of Jared Leto's Joker from the film surfaced on X (formerly Twitter), Suicide Squad director David Ayer confirmed that his initial film cut was not the one released in theaters. He also claimed that Gunn, one of two new heads of DC's live-action film production, told him that his original cut may soon see the light of day. In part, he said in an X post, "All I know is my unseen film plays much better than the studio release. The interest in my cut being [shown] seems real and organic. And Gunn told me it would have [its] time to be shared."
Ayer also said that the negative reception to the film upon its release made him reconsider his entire career, and that online discussion of it has been "magnetized" towards negativity before claiming that his version of the film is much better than the one released to theaters. The director addressed his fans directly, noting the genuine desire from some fans to see the director's cut come to light while also warning them not to cause drama and interfere with Gunn's own projects like the upcoming Superman: Legacy.
Suicide Squad introduces a team of delinquent supervillains and anti-heroes from the likes of Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Killer Croc, Captain Boomerang, and Katana, among others, recruited by the U.S. government as an expendable team of mercenaries hired to take out threats that have eluded the Justice League. The film was released to mostly negative reviews, with a 26% score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is often attributed to a rushed production schedule, constant reshoots, and studio interference.
Five years later, James Gunn himself directed a sequel/soft reboot, 2021's The Suicide Squad, which released to much warmer reviews despite its lower-than-expected box office performance, perhaps partly due to its day-and-date release. Still, the film, which featured stars like Idris Elba, John Cena, and fan favorite Margot Robbie reprising her role as Harley Quinn, led to Gunn's eventual takeover of DC as one of its main heads, and the fate of the first film's director's cut lies with him.
Though the film is over seven years old at this point, Warner Bros. has undergone similar rereleases in the past, such as Zack Snyder's Justice League, an updated three-hour cut of 2017's Justice League, which was similarly lambasted for its lackluster humor and overuse of CGI. The updated version saw director Zack Snyder's original vision come to light after a series of alternate editing and various reshoots, and the result was far more well-received than the studio version.
Suicide Squad and The Suicide Squad are available to stream on Max.
Source: X