We’ve known that 2016’s Suicide Squad had significant studio interference for quite some time. After the reception of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and the film’s intense aesthetic, Warner Bros got quite nervous and changed things at the very last minute.
That has never sat well with director David Ayer, and he’s often spoken about it. But it wasn’t just the studio changes that got people buzzing about the film; it was also Jared Leto’s controversial take on The Joker.
Ayer often defends his bold creative choices, but there’s even one Joker decision he made that he wishes to change. In a recent string of tweets, the filmmaker opened up about all of that, still revisiting the film.
When asked by a fan, “Why the forehead tattoo?” Ayer replied, “It was Joker trolling Batman after getting his teeth punched in by him. It’s the one aesthetic choice I wish I hadn’t made. Caught a lot of smoke for it, obviously.”
Ayer goes deeper, visiting past sentiments of how much the Joker got changed due to studio interference. A fan says that Leto’s Joker was a “major letdown,” Ayer told the fan, “That’s what happens when you hack a performance and character arc to pieces. I’m sorry, that’s all you were allowed to see. Now your mind is closed to the truth.”
For years, there’s been an online movement dubbed ‘Release The Ayer Cut,’ similar to what Zack Snyder fans did for Justice League. While Zack Snyder’s Justice League debuted on HBO Max, making itself a cult classic for DC fans, David Ayer’s Suicide Squad has yet to see the light of day.
With James Gunn and Peter Safran running DC Studios under the current regime, there’s no telling if Ayer will ever get to release his intended vision for the film.
