Movies

David Ayer's 'Suicide Squad' Director's Cut "Would Be Easy To Complete," Josh Trank Not Interested In 'Fantastic Four' Director's Cut

suicide squad director's cut
By Hoai-Tran Bui

This is the world we live in now: if you are loud enough about demanding a director's cut on Twitter, it will come. After the mythic Snyder Cut earned its triumphant victory with an HBO Max release in 2021, the floodgates have opened for directors who want their original visions to be shown to rabid fans. The latest filmmaker to join the director's cut train is David Ayer, whose 2016 comic book film Suicide Squad was famously subjected to long reshoots and re-edits. Ayer revealed that is "Ayer Cut" of Suicide Squad would be "easy to complete" and "incredibly cathartic" to release.

It's no secret that Suicide Squad went through some major behind-the-scenes changes, many that didn't make director David Ayer happy. After Zack Snyder's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was critized for being too dour, Warner Bros. wanted to make sure the next film to come out in its DC Extended Universe, Suicide Squad, would go in a more lighthearted and comedic direction. A well-received funny and tongue-in-cheek trailer for Suicide Squad gave the studio even more cause to go in the lighter direction, resulting in pricy reshoots that cost as much as $22 million.

Despite that, Suicide Squad still received mostly negative reviews from fans and critics alike, in part due to its choppy tone and editing. Ayer is convinced that his original vision would have been way more successful. And now with the "Snyder Cut" of Justice League officially making its way to HBO Max after years of fan demands, Ayer sees more of a chance than ever to get his original vision, his "Ayer Cut," of Suicide Squad to fans.

"My cut would be easy to complete," Ayer said in response to a question about his original cut of Suicide Squad on Twitter. "It would be incredibly cathartic for me. It's exhausting getting your ass kicked for a film that got the Edward Scissorhands treatment. The film I made has never been seen."

Ayer would need permission from Warner Bros. to rework his version, but it likely won't require the millions of dollars that HBO Max is pouring into completing the Snyder Cut. So it's extremely like that we could get the Ayer Cut of Suicide Squad, especially if fans are vocal enough. Because that's the world we live in now.

But one director who notoriously had a difficult time consolidating his vision for a film with the studio's is not that eager to get a re-do. Josh Trank, whose behind-the-scenes troubles with 20th Century over his 2015 Fantastic Four was the stuff of movie tabloid legend, isn't interested in releasing a "Trank Cut," telling a fan who suggested he do so, "No need."

Trank was the fall-guy for the box office failure of Fantastic Four, though he left during principal photography and has famously distanced himself from the project in the years since. He was still credited as the director of Fantastic Four despite Trank's troubles with the studio, which ended up releasing a very different version than the body-horror vision that Trank originally teased.

Recommended