Next year is going to be a good year for DC fans. After the release of Man of Steel 2013, audiences were wondering what the next move would be in furthering the DC Cinematic Universe. Us fans were overjoyed when Warner Bros. announced the next two films in their lineup: Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, directed by Man of Steel director Zack Snyder and Suicide Squad, directed by David Ayer.
Suicide Squad producer Charles Roven recently spoke to Collider about how the film came to be, focusing on the pitch that David Ayer presented to Warner Bros. executive Greg Silverman and other people at the studio. Take a look at what he said below:
“He had a close relationship with [Warner Bros. executive] Greg Silverman and Greg said, ‘He’s got an idea on Suicide Squad, he wants to come in and pitch it.’ Having a guy like that who’s been able to—all of his films have had a certain level of groundedness to them, really feeling very richly real. And so having that sensibility, which is along the lines of what we were talking about earlier how we like to have things grounded in science or whatever, I was very anxious to hear what his take was gonna be on Suicide Squad and I was very happily surprised, but it was right exactly in the pocket that we were looking for. Honestly that movie was essentially greenlit in the pitch meeting.
“…So David was very fresh off the heels of a movie that he could show called Fury, which was a fabulous picture, and he was able to talk about these really—as he says ‘it can be fun to be bad’ and ‘just because they’re bad doesn’t mean they’re evil’, and so he was able to convince all of the actors that we went out to that he was gonna be able to make these characters so compelling that they would wanna be played more than once by these actors.”
It sounds to me like Ayer is on the right track. Obviously, those over at Warner Bros. agree. Later on in the interview, Roven talked about Suicide Squad’s rating and the desire to keep the tone of the DCCU consistent throughout each film.
“The intention of the film is definitely to be PG-13… We really want to make these films tonally consistent so that, as I said because this is a shared universe, at least our current thinking—and again, we’re not dealing in absolutes because while this is business it’s also a creative endeavor, so you want to leave yourself open to changing your mind, doing something different, being inspired, that’s the whole process of filmmaking is you have to allow for inspiration as well as having a road map for what you’re gonna do. So our plan right now is to make all these films PG-13. In some cases, you know, right there on the edge of PG-13, but still PG-13.”
If you were expecting Suicide Squad to be rated R, you’re not the only one. I had my suspicions that an R-rating was possible, but I also suspected that Warner Bros. wouldn’t want to go too far to the point where the film wouldn’t fit well with Batman v. Superman and the other films they have in development. Still, I do expect the film to push the boundaries a little bit, and it seems that Warner Bros. is going in that direction.
You can read the rest of Collider’s interview here.
Are you excited for Suicide Squad, and do you agree with the PG-13 rating? Sound off in the comments below!
