Suicide Squad: Jared Leto Was Mistreated Says Director David Ayer

Jared Leto was mistreated for playing Joker in Suicide Squad, director David Ayer claims. The actor debuted the role as the DCEU's Crown Prince of Crime in the 2016 Warner Bros. and DC Films anti-hero-centric film. However, while marketing for the project put him front and center, he barely factored in its narrative, causing fan backlash.

Instead, Suicide Squad focused on the now fan-favorite Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Deadshot (Will Smith), and the rest of Task Force X while they went on a secret mission assigned by Amanda Waller (Viola Davis). Leto's screen time as Joker was so minimal that many dubbed his appearance as nothing but a glorified cameo. Initial reports of multiple spinoffs, including a film focused on Harley Quinn and Joker kept fans hopeful they would see more of the actor in the role, but as the DCEU has evolved, that offshoot doesn't seem to be in the cards now.

With a growing movement behind the release of Ayer's cut of Suicide Squad following the announcement of Zack Snyder's Justice League releasing through HBO Max, the director has been more vocal on social media with regard to the matter. In his recent post, he claims that Leto was mistreated throughout this whole debacle after the actor liked a separate tweet pushing for Ayer's original version of the film to be rolled out. "Jared was pretty mistreated during this. No one has seen his performance. It was ripped out of the movie," Ayer wrote. Check out his tweet below:

David Ayer Says Suicide Squad Actor Jared Leto Was Mistreated

Ayer has regularly revealed production information and behind-the-scenes material about Suicide Squad in the last few years, and a lot of those revolved around Leto's Joker. More recently, he upped the frequency of his posts and became more engaged with fans online who are curious to know about his original vision for the film. For context, after the divisive response to Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Warner Bros. wanted to make Suicide Squad lighthearted. The director recently revealed that Deadpool's success also played a part in the studio mandate, transforming his "soulful drama" into a comedy, evidenced by extensive reshoots. In the last couple of months, he claims that Harley's arc was eviscerated, the film was going to open with an extended Enchantress (Cara Delevingne) scene and Diablo (Jay Hernandez) survived until the end. Ayer revealed that his cut is just as dark as Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix's Joker as well.

Ayer didn't name drop who mistreated Leto during his whole Suicide Squad experience, but there are a couple of possibilities. The director might be referring to Warner Bros., who meddled with his cut, leaving most of the Clown Prince of Crime's scenes out of the theatrical version of the movie. There's also the possibility he's talking about how critics discussed Leto's performance in the movie, dismissing his portrayal right away despite having very limited screen time. Ayer said the Joker scenes in Suicide Squad have yet to be seen by the public, which is a shame considering he went method to get into the role. Chances are the scrapped scenes would be included in the Ayer cut if that's released one way or another. For what it's worth, even James Gunn, who's helming the sequel/soft reboot The Suicide Squad, supports Ayer's cut. As for Leto, since he's already lined up for a Marvel role as Morbius The Living Vampire in Sony's Morbius, it's curious if there's still a chance he might reprise the role of the Joker in the DCEU, especially if Ayer's Suicide Squad cut is released and reaction is overwhelmingly positive.

More: Justice League 2017 Is The Only DCEU Movie Snyder Cut Retcons

Source: David Ayer