James Gunn and David Ayer Have Discussed the Ayer Cut of Suicide Squad

The same weekend a film mentioning Zack Snyder’s cut of Justice League crossed a billion dollars at the box office, a film that also relates to Snyder’s story had reason to celebrate. David Ayer, the director of 2016’s DC film Suicide Squad, said on X that he’s spoken to one of the presidents of DC Films, James Gunn, and Gunn said that Ayer’s version of that film “would have its time to be shared.”

To understand a bit of what that means, when Ayer’s Suicide Squad was released in 2016 (Gunn also made a movie called The Suicide Squad in 2021, which is largely unrelated to this story), much of the talk surrounding it was about how the version in theaters wasn’t the director’s vision. Ayer imagined, and shot, a darker version of the story, but Warner Bros. apparently wanted something lighter and more fun after the tepid release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Eventually, an amalgamation of the two was created and released. The film was a huge hit but in the subsequent years, Ayer was vocal about his disappointment audiences didn’t get to see his version, which he believed worked better.

That all happened as similar talks circled Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and when Snyder’s extended version of that film actually did get released, many fans thought Ayer’s film could be next. Even when then-WarnerMedia CEO Ann Sarnoff. said in 2021 “We won’t be developing David Ayer’s cut,” hope remained. This weekend that reignited a bit. Ayer tweeted out some photos from what looks to be his version of the movie and then said the following in response to a person’s cynicism about the film.

“What’s your advice on how to navigate this situation with grace?” Ayer tweeted. “There’s a genuine curiosity and interest from a lot of people. And I’m aware of there is another group of people that have fun mocking the film. Your comment is a perfect example of how many are magnetically drawn discussion to the 2016 film in a negative way. Have you ever had an experience in life that didn’t until the way you wanted, that dragged you, that made you rethink everything? I have.”

“All I know is my unseen film plays much better than the studio release,” he continued. “The interest in my cut being shown seems real and organic. And Gunn told me it would have its time to be shared. He absolutely deserves to launch his DC universe without more drama about old projects. In a way I’m chained to this thing. I’m riding a tiger here and navigating this situation the best I can. Life is a very strange journey. Welcome to my Ted talk.” Here’s the tweet in question.

So, what does it mean exactly that Gunn told Ayer the alternate cute “would have its time to be shared”? We do not know but io9 reached out to DC Films for potential comment or clarification and will update this post if or when we hear back.

Some, however, interpreted that quote as Gunn and DC were planning on releasing Ayer’s cut of Suicide Squad before the new DC Universe starts, but that’s not the case. “Silly rumor. Not true,” Ayer tweeted. Either way, it seems like, at some point, in some way, there might be some movement around this thing. And you just know many fans, and even non-fans, out there would watch the Ayer cut of Suicide Squad, even out of curiosity.

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