Suicide Squad’s Jared Leto Gives His Thoughts On Calls To Release The Ayer Cut

Jared Leto as Joker in Suicide Squad
(Image credit: (Warner Bros))

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After three years of #ReleaseTheSnyderCut working its way into internet conversations and making it onto Comic Con posters and messages on the tails of planes, Zack Snyder is officially gearing up to show off his four-hour cut of Justice League on HBO Max this year. It’s an exciting development for the DCEU and has motivated fans to start to campaign for the Ayer Cut of 2016’s Suicide Squad, with many hoping to especially see more of Jared Leto’s Joker.

David Ayer has made it clear that there was a lot more to Jared Leto’s Clown Prince of Crime than what made the cut of the film. The contemporary version of the villain was seriously hyped up before the movie’s release, but the theatrical cut of the film barely featured Joker. Leto recently spoke to his thoughts on the Ayer Cut with these words:

I would love for him to be able to work on that and make the film of his dreams. It's always hard when you make these movies because it's such a pressure cooker. There are so many decisions that have to be made in a short amount of time. My hat's off to the directors and the producers, and the studios. It's not easy. You never start with something that's perfect. It's a race to try to make it as good as you can in a short amount of time. So I get it, having another swing at things? I'm sure we all can use that.

While on Variety’s Award Circuit Podcast, Jared Leto showed some empathy for the filmmakers involved in studio films as massive as Suicide Squad. He expressed an understanding of the complications comic book films can deal with and shared his support for David Ayer having another shot at showing all that he had planned for the project. There are no plans in place right now concerning the Ayer Cut, but the director has been vocal about how his vision for the film was “ripped out” due to studio meddling following negative reactions to BvS.

Jared Leto is reportedly going to reprise his role as Joker in Zack Snyder’s Justice League this year in a bit of a different way than we remember him in Suicide Squad. Fans have proven to be quite curious when it comes to the classic villain's role in the massive ensemble piece.

Warner Bros. does seem to be moving on from David Ayer with James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, which will feature a number of characters from the original film including Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, Jai Courtney’s Captain Boomerang, Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flag and Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller. The upcoming movie will also introduce a ton of new members to the fateful DC team, but it will not include Jared Leto’s Joker.

Every 2021 Warner Bros movie, including James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, will be available to stream on HBO Max on release day. You can sign up for the streaming service so that you'll be able to watch the movies as they release. Stay updated on what’s coming in the DCEU with CinemaBlend’s updated list of upcoming DC movies.

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.