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David Ayer Initially Approached Fury Star Shia LaBeouf For Suicide Squad

Before Warner Bros. reworked the script, Suicide Squad David Ayer had initially approached Shia LaBeouf about a potential role.

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Had things panned out differently a Fury reunion could have been in the cards for David Ayer’s Suicide Squad.

Word comes by way of Variety, who quizzed Shia LaBeouf ahead of his turn in festival darling American Honey. Reflecting on his career in candid fashion, the controversial star began by revealing that before Warner Bros. reworked the script to double down on Will Smith’s Deadshot, Ayer had approached LaBeouf regarding a potential role opposite Task Force X. It turns out that the part was later filled by Scott Eastwood, an operative working under Joel Kinnaman’s no-nonsense babysitter.

Per Variety:

“The character was different initially. Then Will [Smith] came in, and the script changed a bit. That character and Tom [Hardy’s] character [later played by Joel Kinnaman] got written down to build Will up.” LaBeouf says the studio vetoed his casting. “I don’t think Warner Bros. wanted me. I went in to meet, and they were like, ‘Nah, you’re crazy. You’re a good actor, but not this one.’ It was a big investment for them.”

Following a string of legal troubles and altercations, Shia LaBeouf’s public image was all but lying in tatters right around the time that Suicide Squad was coming together over at Warner Bros., so it’s not too surprising that, given the stakes riding on David Ayer’s spinoff, the studio stepped in to revoke said casting. Besides, when you consider Eastwood’s bit-part in the finished product, perhaps it’s for the best that this one passed LaBeouf by.

Lastly, the actor also touched base on his working relationship with Steven Spielberg, following roles across the early Transformers films and widely-derided sequel, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

“You get there, and you realize you’re not meeting the Spielberg you dream of. You’re meeting a different Spielberg, who is in a different stage in his career. He’s less a director than he is a fucking company. Spielberg’s sets are very different. Everything has been so meticulously planned. You got to get this line out in 37 seconds. You do that for five years, you start to feel like not knowing what you’re doing for a living.”

Suicide Squad is currently playing in theaters, where it’s now outpaced Man of Steel at the domestic box office.