David Ayer talks Suicide Squad challenges, adapting Joker, and mystery bad guys
Speaking with Total Film Magazine (via SHH Forums user tacit-ronin-), Suicide Squad director David Ayer opened up about adaptating the series and how the inherent challenge of the film’s premise drew him to the director’s chair.
“With a good guy you automatically like them because they do the right thing,” he says. “But with bad guys it’s more of a creative challenge – How do you get an audience to like a villain?”
He continued by speaking to how he adapted the series and his hope for grounding the material that features a crocodile man and a pyrokinetic.
“You have to be true to the source material, but at the same time, I want to give the characters a real psychology and make them feel of our world. For me the fun is creating the illusion that you can walk down the street and run into Harley Quinn, or see the Joker driving along.”
Ayer went on to talk about Jared Leto’s Joker.
“You’re looking at one of the best-known villains in western literature. He has to be very respectful and elegantly crafted, because you’re following in the footsteps of giants. He’s very loyal to the canon, but with some modern twists… With Jared, it’s interesting because how do you come at that character? It’s like treading on hallowed ground. It requires a strange combination of both respect and fearlessness. I don’t want to reveal too much about the magic trick…”
One crucial detail about Suicide Squad remains a mystery – the bad guys. The bizarre-looking baddies can be seen throughout the trailers but don’t exactly look like anything from DC Comics. Ayer and DC Films producer Charles Roven did reveal one thing about them, their name: Eyes of The Adversary.
“Let’s just say, when they’re called in to do this mission by Amanda, these are one of the things they encounter,” Roven said. “They don’t know how they got here, but they’re weird and dangerous and yet they’re wearing military uniforms.”
Ayer wouldn’t budge on the enemies at hand but did offer the quip that “Nobody’s safe.”
Suicide Squad stars Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness, Focus) as Deadshot, Joel Kinnaman (RoboCop, Easy Money) as Rick Flagg, Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street, Focus) as Harley Quinn, Jai Courtney (Divergent, The Water Diviner) as Captain Boomerang, Cara Delevingne (Anna Karenina, Pan) as Enchantress, Karen Fukuhara as Katana, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc, Jay Hernandez as El DIablo, Adam Beach as Slipknot, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, and Jared Leto as The Joker. There’s also mystery roles for Ike Barinholtz, Scott Eastwood, Raymond Olubowale, Alex Meraz, Jim Parrack, and Common.
The film is scheduled for release on August 5, 2016.
