‘Suicide Squad’ director: The Joker should have been the bad guy

Suicide Squad can only be considered a failure. Despite early anticipation following a great trailer, the movie was a critical flop, netting just 26% on Rotten Tomatoes (we weren’t so fond of it either). One of the main problems with the movie comes from the fact that The Joker, played by Jared Leto, was barely seen in the movie at all. Instead of being the main villain as most had suspected, Enchantress ended up filling that role.

Director David Ayer has been responding to comments about the movie recently, including from actor Norman D. Golden II (Devon Butler in 1993’s Cop and a Half), who said he enjoyed the movie. Ayer replied with some of this thoughts:

Yeah it was a big fun silly movie. It could have been a bigger success had I done it a little different. But it did great and made an impression.

— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) November 26, 2017

A fan responded with some suggestions, including the obvious one, making Joker the main villain. Ayer agreed, and stated he “agonizes” over it to this day:

Believe me. I agonize over this. Yes. Joker should have been main bad guy.

— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) November 26, 2017

“Believe me. I agonize over this. Yes. Joker should have been main bad guy.”

The Joker’s role in Suicide Squad was bafflingly small — he was borderline irrelevant. There has been a persistent rumor that many more Joker scenes were filmed than made it into the movie, but Ayer shot that down:

This was a pick up shot for the Harley introduction montage. There was no scene or dialogue. I needed a basket of visuals to introduce her. Same with the Joker stuff. There’s maybe a few minutes shot with Jared. There are not endless Joker scenes under guard somewhere. Sorry.

— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) November 26, 2017

While initial reaction to promotional material revealing Jared Leto’s portrayal was mixed, what little we did see of the character in the movie was well done. If The movie played more into The Joker and Harley Quinn (played by the perfectly cast Margot Robbie), Suicide Squad could have been an whole different movie.