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The DC Extended Universe is always growing and changing, and there are a number of highly anticipated blockbusters coming over the next few years. Chief among them is James Gunn's The Suicide Squad, which will be a soft reboot of David Ayer's similarly titled 2017 movie. The Guardians of the Galaxy filmmaker will pair a cast of newcomers with a handful of returning faces, including Joel Kinnaman's Rick Flag. And now Kinnaman has spoken about the "loud out loud" funny script written by Gunn himself.
Joel Kinnaman's Rick Flag debuted in the original Suicide Squad film, and was tasked with keeping Task Force X together in the field. He was Amanda Waller's eyes and earns, and also share conflicting feelings about Enchantress/ June Moon. While he wasn't exactly a comedic character, Flag will get the James Gunn humor in The Suicide Squad. Kinnaman spoke to this seismic change, saying:
So that I was very, very happy to come back to because it was such a treat, and such an incredible experience to work with James Gunn. And his vision for The Suicide Squad, it was so good. And when I got the script sent to me, it's so funny. Like every page made me laugh. I was sitting at home reading it laughing out loud.
Well, that's exciting. James Gunn is a filmmaker who is known for putting himself into projects. That includes his sense of humor, which helped to make the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise a fan favorite entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Those comedic muscles will once again be flexed with The Suicide Squad, although the upcoming DC blockbuster has a far larger cast of characters to service.
Comedy's role in David Ayer's original Suicide Squad actually worked against it. Ayer has been open about studio interference, and how the success of Deadpool resulted in his original vision for the movie being altered. But James Gunn will definitely be including plenty of jokes in his DC debut, which something that Joel Kinnaman himself responded to.
DC Fans can re-watch the original Suicide Squad on HBO Max. You can use this link to sign up for the streaming service.
Later in Joel Kinnaman's conversation with CBR, the Altered Carbon actor went on to explain how filming The Suicide Squad was different from David Ayer's original blockbuster. The movie's first footage shows the massive scale of James Gunn's script, and clearly the movie will somehow be thrilling, funny, and emotional at once. As Kinnaman went on,
James just opened up the possibilities for the character, and it became much more comedic. And he really taught me how to find the comedy and where the opportunities for that was. And so it was a great learning experience. It was really fun, and both me and James, I think we had a great time working with each other on it. I can't wait for people to see that film. I think it's going to be so good. And everything I've heard, the studio is over the moon about the film. And Warner Bros. basically [has] very few notes, like, almost no notes on the director's cut, which is unheard of on a big movie.
This is definitely intriguing. It looks like audiences will meet a very different Rick Flag in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad. And the experience of filming was definitely a teaching one for Joel Kinnaman. He had to use a different set of acting tools for his second installment in the DCEU, and discover new things about Flag. We'll just have to wait and see how it all shakes down.
The Suicide Squad is currently set to arrive in theaters on August 6th, 2021. In the meantime, check out our 2021 release list to plan your trips to the movies next year.
