Suicide Squad: Does Will Smith's Support Make The Ayer Cut More Likely?
Will Smith has publicly voiced his support for the Ayer Cut of Suicide Squad to be released, but will this move the needle for it? The Ayer Cut has steadily accumulated more public interest in the aftermath of the long-awaited debut of Zack Snyder's Justice League in 2021. The tumultuous reshoots implemented on 2017's Justice League following Snyder's departure resulted in a poorly stitched together final product that bombed in theaters.
For the next two and half years, calls of #ReleaseTheSnyderCut were all over social media, until the film was finally announced in May 2020. 2016's Suicide Squad was similarly subject to a heavy eleventh hour re-shaping, following the polarized reception of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice earlier that year. With the Snyder Cut finally released, many fans began to pushing for the same to be done for the Ayer Cut.
Will Smith made his own support for it public for the first time during the red carpet premiere of Peacock's Bel-Air. Speaking to Variety, Smith stated that "There's a whole lot that stayed on the floor for Suicide Squad" and that he would "I'd love to see it" in regards to the prospect of Ayer's Cut being released. Smith's support follows other cast members similarly backing the Ayer Cut, including Jared Leto and Jay Hernandez. John Cena of James Gunn's The Suicide Squad and HBO Max's Peacemaker series even went as far as to give it his support at the former's premiere.
David Ayer himself has been quite candid on social media about the changes made to Suicide Squad. Additionally, script pages for Ayer's version of Suicide Squad have also found their way online, painting a very different picture of the Ayer Cut compared to the released version. Needless to say, Smith's on-camera support for the Ayer Cut is a huge deal.
To be clear, Warner Bros. stated that no release of the Ayer Cut was planned in an interview with WB CEO Ann Sarnoff shortly after the Snyder Cut's release. Despite this, ongoing calls for the Ayer Cut, along with the general #RestoreTheSnyderVerse campaign, continue to persist. If nothing else, Smith's Ayer Cut endorsement makes the matter a very public topic. His support and that of other cast members also follows the path of how the Snyder Cut came to be. Justice League cast members and other celebrities backing the Snyder Cut was an essential element to the greenlight eventually being given. Still, it's important to remember that these developments didn't happen overnight, either.
Furthermore, there would be negotiations to consider between Ayer and WB if the studio decides to move ahead with the Ayer Cut. With WB currently in the midst of a merger with Discovery, such talks would very likely take a back seat, at least until the merger is finalized. Like the Snyder Cut, the Ayer Cut would still need to go through more than a little red tape before it could happen, though the Suicide Squad Ayer cut would also have a great home on HBO Max for a fraction of the Snyder Cut's final $70 million expenditure. With that being said, having Will Smith in the corner of #ReleaseTheAyerCut is just about as a big an endorsement as it could get. Bridges remain to be crossed in Suicide Squad's Ayer Cut actually happening. Nonetheless, Will Smith may very well have put a good amount of wind in its sails, along with undoubtedly inspiring many more #ReleaseTheAyerCut hashtags.