The old DCEU has reached its conclusion with the release of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. A few plot threads and possible sequels that were teased will never happen, but of all the unfinished business, the biggest piece that fans were hoping for has to be the “Ayer Cut” of Suicide Squad. While Zack Snyder was eventually able to produce something for Justice League he was happy to put his name on, that is looking less and less likely for Suicide Squad.
David Ayer revealed last week that he’s done putting effort into trying to see the Ayer Cut of Suicide Squad released. Some of the reason for that may be that he’s tired of what happens when a new DC movie comes out, as Ayer recently told Variety that he feels “attacked” by people over things from that movie that he did not do. The director explained…
Every time a new movie comes out in that space it starts up again. I get attacked for something that I didn’t do. It’s pretty unjust, and at the end of the day, at this point, I get it, it’s corporate America. It’s corporate IP. You know these are multi-billion dollar companies, but I think ripping the guts out of a filmmaker like that is pretty unfair.
While a lot of specifics still aren’t known about exactly what was changed, we know that Suicide Squad went through a significant edit late in the process that drastically changed the movie, and made the final version something very different from the project David Ayer had made. While the version of Suicide Squad we got was a massive box office hit, it was torn apart by critics, leading many to wonder just what the original version would have been like.
Ayer is more than willing to call his version of Suicide Squad a “great movie.” He thinks it was amazing and for years he has wanted people to see it. At one point it even seemed like the Ayer Cut was happening, as the director had apparently spoken with new DC Films co-head James Gunn, and it sounded like someday, if not someday soon, it might happen.
Recently, however, with David Ayer saying he’s giving up that fight, it seems like maybe it isn’t happening after all. Ayer still wants it, however. Even if the “Ayer Cut” is only shown to the people who made the director does think it would be right and fair for the people involved to see what they worked on. He continued…
I would love a ‘last rites’ screening. A funeral screening, you know, even just bringing the cast and crew together to show them what they actually made. That that would be fair for everyone.
David Ayer may be done fighting, but that doesn’t mean the “Ayer Cut” is dead. It’s unclear how much Zack Snyder actually did to make the Snyder Cut happen, and how much of it was pure fan support. If the fans keep fighting for it, maybe it can still happen.
