David Ayer Says Jared Leto’s Performance Was Ripped Out Of Suicide Squad

Following the success of the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement, DC fans have already got behind a new, similar, cause: campaigning to get Warner Bros. to #ReleaseTheAyerCut of Suicide Squad. We’ve always known that the supervillain team-up flick was chopped up by the studio following Batman V Superman‘s mixed reception, but lately director David Ayer has been opening up about how much the theatrical cut corrupted his original vision for the movie.

For one, there was initially a lot more Joker. There was a ton of frustration with the film’s portrayal of the Clown Prince of Crime back in 2016, when Jared Leto turned out to have less than 10 minutes of screentime in the whole thing. Ayer’s previously expressed sadness that the actor’s take on the iconic character was reduced like that, and it seems Leto himself agrees.

The actor recently liked a tweet about his Joker sporting the #ReleaseTheAyerCut hashtag, showing support for the movement. Ayer then responded to a screenshot of this with another tweet about his feelings on how Suicide Squad’s Joker was handled in the theatrical version.

“Jared was pretty mistreated during this,” Ayer wrote. “No one has seen his performance. It was ripped out of the movie.”

Jared was pretty mistreated during this. No one has seen his performance. It was ripped out of the movie. https://t.co/gSOeyJjtyd

— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) June 2, 2020

As Ayer has teased before, in the original cut, the Joker would’ve returned after his helicopter crash during the third act, having allied himself with the Enchantress. He’d have tried to kill Task Force X and get Harley Quinn back on his side, but she would’ve stood up to him, giving her a moment of independence that was completely absent from the theatrical version. In that, Joker only revealed his survival in the film’s final scene, as he broke Harley out of Belle Reve.

It remains to be seen whether the Ayer Cut campaign will have the same result as in the case of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, which is coming to HBO Max next year. But tell us, do you want to see David Ayer’s Suicide Squad? Have your say in the comments below.