The director of Suicide Squad, David Ayer, has revealed a new photo of Jared Leto as Joker, from a scene not in the final film. Leto's performance as Joker is one of the more controversial aspects of the movie. He famously didn't break character throughout working on the film, instead behaving as Joker at all times. Aside from his extreme method, reception to his performance was also mixed. Ayer even had to go on record saying a report suggesting he didn't like Leto's portrayal was "inaccurate." However, the fact remains that Joker appeared in a relatively small amount of the movie compared to what most expected.

In the time since Suicide Squad was released in 2016, both Ayer and Leto have discussed cut scenes involving Joker. There are many of them, as Ayer recently said "most of [Leto's work] remains unseen." Ayer has revealed details of one cut Joker scene in particular, following the helicopter crash that initially seemed to kill him. In the finished film, Joker next appears when he breaks Harley Quinn out of prison. However, in 2018, Ayer revealed a missing scene in between showed Joker make a deal with Enchantress, after which "Harley stood up to him and refused to betray her new friends."

Related: The DCEU's Future Doesn't Need The Joker

Fans caught a glimpse of the eventually cut scene during the trailer, when Joker was shown in a tuxedo with a damaged face following the crash. Ayer also shared an image from it last year, showing Joker facing Harley. Now, the director reveals another image of a burned Joker, this time in black and white. Ayer captioned the photo simply "Dream," which could mean many things. Check it out below:

It's possible Ayer's caption is a reference to his director's cut of Suicide Squad, which would likely include the cut Joker scenes, among others. The director recently told fans releasing his cut of the movie wasn't in his control, likely making it a pipe dream for him. Of course, its release is at least a little more likely after the events of this week, which found director Zack Snyder announcing the release of his cut of Justice League on HBO Max. That project too once seemed like something that would never see the light of day, increasing the likelihood of a director's cut like Ayer's eventually being released.

As the photo doesn't reveal anything new about Joker's cut scenes in Suicide Squad, the caption is the most noteworthy part of Ayer's post. However, it's still a beautifully haunting image, especially with the black and white contrast. Even if the Ayer Cut of Suicide Squad never makes its way out into the world, hopefully Ayer will continue sharing images like this one.

More: Recasting Jared Leto's Joker For Future DCEU Movies

Source: David Ayer

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