David Ayer’s Cut Of Suicide Squad Didn’t Test Better Than DC’s Cut, Producer Says

DC Universe producer Charles Roven, who’s had a hand in both Suicide Squad films as well as other DC titles like Justice League and Wonder Woman, has spilled the beans on David Ayer’s cut of Suicide Squad. The producer explained that when David Ayer’s preferred cut was shown to test audiences against the studio’s preferred cut, audiences liked both about the same.

After David Ayer released a statement discussing his experience with Suicide Squad, The Hollywood Reporter asked Roven whether he had seen the “fully mature edit by Lee Smith” that Ayer referred to.

“When the studio was hoping to replace John [Gilroy], the original editor, we suggested Lee,” Roven explained. “He’s one of the truly great editors. He was charged with trying to take a slightly different approach, but not totally change the tone of the movie with his work. Clearly, from what David is saying, that was the version that he liked the best of all the versions.”

He also confirmed that there was a lot of conflict between what the studio wanted out of the cut and what Ayer wanted, requiring both parties to negotiate towards the final cut. When it came to audience testing, Roven said that Ayer selected an edit that most matched his vision, but also clarified that the edit used for that test was not Lee Smith’s.

“It was somebody else that came in. The studio version was also different editors as well,” Roven explained. “We tested both versions. They tested exactly the same. Because they tested exactly the same, David and the studio and ourselves, meaning Rich and I and the heads of DC at that time–on Berg and Geoff Johns–we all sat in a room and tried to come up with what would be the best of both versions.”

While Suicide Squad was a box office hit, it was widely panned by critics. The newly released The Suicide Squad by James Gunn has had a lot more luck with critics, currently boasting an aggregated score of 72 on Gamespot sister site Metacritic.