Word emerged last week that Warner Brothers was spending “tens of thousands” of dollars on reshoots for ‘Suicide Squad’ the next installment in its DC Expanded Universe. Of course this news came after ‘Batman V Superman’ premiered and broke records with its monetary intake but received an almost unparalleled lashing from critics and viewers. Reportedly, the reshoots were to add additional humor and character defining moments. These reshoots were not 100% confirmed, but now we know that they are happening as filming has begun.
Jai Courtney, star of the ‘Divergent’ movies, who plays the more grown-up role of Boomerang (Captain Boomerang in the comics) revealed:
“Can’t believe everything you read. I think there’s plenty of [humor] in it, I wouldn’t say we’re going back to make it funnier. There’s some additional action stuff that we’ve been doing, which is pretty dope. Really, we’re just kind of adding in that sense.”
Brett Schulte, a tech working on the film, tweeted confirmation of being back on the set of the film:
On set of Suicide Squad reshoots #dtla
— Brett Schulte (@brettschulte) April 6, 2016
Cool to see @DavidAyerMovies shooting @SuicideSquadWB reshoots in #DTLA.
— Brett Schulte (@brettschulte) April 6, 2016
From the start of production on ‘Suicide Squad’, it was touted that this film would explore the darker side of the DCEU. Then ‘Batman V Superman’ happened and was pretty f***ing dark, which was a problem that some viewers had with the film. (Ironically, it’s one of the reasons boosters like most about it, since so many other super hero movies are so heavy on the levity.) How could ‘Suicide Squad’ possibly be even darker?
When another Twitter user questioned Schulte about this topic, he offered this… interesting response:
@BatmanNewsCom talking to people on set today they said the studio “made him do reshoots” because it was too dark. Interesting words.
— Brett Schulte (@brettschulte) April 6, 2016
We just reported that Warner Brothers was re-evaluating its entire slate after some big budget failures and after ‘Batman V Superman’ has seemed to fall short of expectations.
On the subject or revising its DC plans, a WB insider stated:
“We’re not going to take a movie that’s supposed to be one thing and turn it into a copycat of something else.”
This could be in reference to a couple of things. On the one hand, it could be in regard to ‘Justice League’ which is also being directed by Zack Snyder, who helmed the underperforming ‘BvS’. Then again, it could be in reference to ‘Suicide Squad’.
The first footage from this film was much moodier and… well, dark. But the most recent trailer definitely upped the comedic overtones, which many compared to Marvel Studios’ blockbuster ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and to this spring’s surprise smash ‘Deadpool’ from 20th Century Fox. Is this insider simply stressing that WB isn’t trying to copy those other successful comic book movies?
It’s completely normal for movies to do reshoots. Most of the time, it’s because the director feels that some elements are missing or unclear. But sometimes, they can completely derail a director’s original vision and the fact that David Ayer is being “made” to do reshoots is a bit troubling.
Are you worried about ‘Suicide Squad’ at this point? Will we be getting a diluted vision? Or are they just attempting to make the best movie they possibly can?
‘Suicide Squad’ directed by David Ayer and starring Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jared Leto, Jai Courtney, Joel Kinnaman, Cara Delevingne, Viola Davis, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Adam Beach, Jay Hernandez, and Karen Fukahara with Ben Affleck hits theaters on August 5, 2016.
Source: Comic Book Movie
Jason is hoping to do reshoots of his entire twenties. You can follow his progress on Twitter.
