Suicide squad
The gang we want to be in.
“Who’s got the best bad guys out there?” director David Ayer asked recently. His answer: “DC Comics.” The Fury helmer is slightly biased, of course, having just shot Suicide Squad, which teams DC’s meanest anti-heroes for what promises to be the craziest comic-book adap yet.
The third film in DC’s expanded universe after Man Of Steel and Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice, it sees government official Amanda Walker (Viola Davis) recruiting jailed supercriminals to form a deadly squad of assassins. Led by marksman Deadshot (Will Smith), they’re deployed to carry out missions too dangerous for mere mortals, and members include ex-shrink Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), assassin Boomerang (Jai Courtney), military officer Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman) and the reptilian Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje).
And then there’s The Joker, played by Jared Leto, who had fun scaring his co-stars in typical Joker fashion during filming – he mailed them dead rats and had a whole dead hog delivered to the crew. It’s hard to imagine Ryan Gosling, who was originally up for the role, taking it to quite the same extremes. “It’s fucking insane,” enthuses Cara Delevingne (who plays the witch-y Enchantress) of the film, and going by what we’ve already seen – including a dark, gritty trailer – she’s not exaggerating.
“I’m all about real drama, real performance, and real people, so my twist on this is I’m creating a family,” Ayer says of tackling the crowded superhero market. “I’m creating a brotherhood here.” He’s no stranger to action, either, having made intense war flick Fury and police drama End Of Watch. “I believe in old school filmmaking,” he tweeted during shooting in May 2015. “Real stunts. Real people. Real places.”
With Batman (Ben Affleck) reportedly making a cameo (a man in a Bat-suit was spotted during filming in Toronto), and Ayer even apparently hiring an on-set psychiatrist to ensure his stars weren’t left disturbed by the dark subject matter, Suicide Squad promises to give the superhero movie genre an invigorating shot of crazy. “The movie is going to be the best thing in the world,” says Delevingne. Adds Ayer: “The real shock is how hilarious it’s going to be.” JW ETA | 5 August 2016 Suicide Squad opens next summer.