There Was Tons of Behind-The-Scenes Drama During The Making of SUICIDE SQUAD

I haven't seen Suicide Squad yet myself, but the movie has been getting absolutely pummeled by a majority of critics so far (but Joey loved it). A new piece by THR presents a few reasons why the film may not have struck the right chord with audiences so far, shining a light on the chaos of its development and a lot of behind-the-scenes drama as the project raced toward the finish line. You should really take a few minutes and read the entire piece, but I'll pull out a few highlights here.

This was another tentpole film that was behind the 8-ball from the start, being forced to hit a pre-established release date instead of having a bit of time to perfect the script. Ayer reportedly wrote it in six weeks and basically rolled straight into filming. The idea of moving the date apparently wasn't on the table:

Another source closely involved with the film says once it was dated, pushing back the release was not an option: "It's not just that you've told the public the movie is coming, you've made huge deals around the world with huge branding partners, with merchandise partners. It's a really big deal to move a tentpole date."

Blindsided by the "tepid" reaction to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the studio wanted to make sure that Suicide Squad accurately delivered on the lighthearted tone promised in its first trailer, but Ayer had a more "somber" version of the film in mind. So WB let him work on his cut, but they enlisted the help of Trailer Park, a company that cuts movie trailers for studios, to edit an entirely different cut of the movie that more closely aligned with their vision.

Multiple editors jumped on and off the film, with the only credited one — John Gilroy (Pacific Rim) — leaving before the completion of the movie and one source saying Michael Tronick was the final editor. The two versions of the movie were tested on audiences, and the plan was to reach a compromise between the two tones, but there was "a lot of panic and ego instead of calmly addressing the tonal issue." Apparently "the studio-favored version with more characters introduced early in the film and jazzed-up graphics won."

When all is said and done, one source says the studio will need to make between $750 and $800 million at the box office just to break even, which doesn't seem like a great position to be in with largely bad word of mouth going around because of the reviews.

Again, the full piece is absolutely worth reading, so I suggest doing that if you have some time to spare. Suicide Squad's first public screenings begin tomorrow night.