The studio intervention has been a recurrent event in the pre-James Gunn DCEU era. A series of bad decisions have led them to ruin many potential top-tier movies that were handled very badly by the studio. One such movie is David Ayer’s Suicide Squad released in 2016 which was subjected to disastrous critical reviews due to its creative choices. But later, it shaped into a wide controversy after the DC director revealed how the studio had made significant cuts and changes to the movie.
Both David Ayer and his fans are often seen talking about the 2016 movie on the internet. Recently as Ayer took on Twitter to reply to a fan, he took responsibility for a major creative choice taken on Jared Leto’s Joker.
What does David Ayer regret about Jared Leto’s Joker?
Jared Leto‘s Joker shown in 2016’s Suicide Squad presented a unique take on DC’s Clown Prince of Crime. His version was extremely different from all the iconic cinematic portrayals seen over the years. No lie to admit that it generated extremely polarizing feedback from the audience.
Another part of this new iteration of Joker that was subjected to much discussion was Joker’s tattoos and most importantly the forehead “Damaged” tattoo. In a recent tweet by David Ayer, he responded to a fan admitting that he is solely responsible for the tattoo which was earlier expected to read “Blessed”. But he agreed that it was a wrong aesthetic choice and didn’t work at all.
“It was my choice. Original idea is it would say ‘Blessed’ and not ‘Damaged.’ Now having said that — I regret that decision. It created acrimony and division. Not every idea is a good idea. And I’ll just be in the corner here while the internet slaps me around for this post. “
Earlier also, when Ayer released test footage of Jared Leto’s Joker, we could spot the “Blessed” tattoo and a slightly different take than the traditional Jokers we have seen in DC movies. While the aesthetic decisions created such a fuss, the treatment received by the character in the theatrical cut is also largely responsible for ruining the character.
Can we ever get to see the uncut version of DCEU’s Joker?
The fans were very disappointed when it was revealed that the studio altered most of the scenes featuring Jared Leto’s Joker and only kept a brief portion about him. The original cut was meant to have more scenes exploring his relationship with Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn. Leto had a much more significant part in the plot but his crucial parts were just cut from the final version.
Soon after Zack Snyder’s Justice League was released, the fans also rallied online for #ReleaseTheAyerCut. It is repeatedly claimed by the director that similar to the Snyder Cut, much of the crazier stuff was removed or badly altered in the final version of the movie. Even though we got a standalone sequel in the form of James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad which was mostly blessed with positive reviews, the DC fans wanted to see Ayer’s full vision.
According to the director, his cut is wholly different from the theatrical cut with a more mature edit, traditional character arcs, and original background score instead of radio tracks. Earlier the Snyder Cut has also been praised for being a much better version than Josstice League. David Ayer has also stated that the new DCU co-head has assured that his cut will get its time to be released- “And Gunn told me it would have it’s time to be shared.”
Now as James Gunn is himself set on shaping up his new DCU, it will be interesting to watch if he finds a place for David Ayer’s cut to be released.
Suicide Squad can be streamed on Max.
Source: David Ayer (via Twitter)
