Director David Ayer has offered up some more insight into the reshoots that for the 2016 superhero movie Suicide Squad, revealing that he was the one who did them.
In a recent reply to fans on X (formerly Twitter), Ayer shared a behind-the-scenes clip of Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, noting how amazing of a time it was. After some back-and-forth, Ayer was asked about if reshoots to the film changed Jared Leto’s Joker.
According to Ayer, “every single method was used to reduce Joker to a punchline,” with the director not so subtly saying that reshoots and cuts made Leto’s performance appear much worse.
Ayer clarifies his position on reshoots, confirming he handled them
Ayer was then asked about his role in the reshoots and whether or not someone else did them. The director confirmed he did film the reshoots and that if he had to do it again, he would have, because he is simply “an employee doing a job” at the end of the day, no matter how much he might not have liked them.
“I shot them. I was hired to do a job and I did it,” said Ayer. “And if I ended up in the same situation I would shoot what I had to shoot. At the end of the day I’m just an employee doing a job. I take my obligations seriously no matter how painful.”
Following the finish of initial filming, 2016’s Suicide Squad was reported to have undergone fairly extensive reshoots. These included rewritten sections by DC’s Geoff Johns, as well as a reportedly entirely new third act. Scenes between the Joker and Harley Quinn were also reportedly toned down to make the couple more appealing.
Two years ago, David Ayer confirmed that another version of Suicide Squad did exist after a script was leaked online. The “David Ayer cut” of the film has since gained traction amongst fans, but Ayer hasn’t spoken much about it since 2022, when he said redoing the film in his own image wouldn’t require much in the way of reshoots.
