Producers Charles Roven and Richard Suckle Discuss the DC Extended Universe

Producers of the DC Extended Universe Charles Roven and Richard Suckle in an interview with The Wall Street Journal discuss the up and down of the DC Comics slate of films, confirming Suicide Squad having more than one cut and also defending the rehiring of Zack Snyder as the director for Justice League. 

On the multiple cuts for Suicide Squad:

The Hollywood Reporter, citing sources, reported that there were multiple competing cuts of “Suicide Squad,” with several editors working on it to get it ready for release. Warner Bros. and Ayer, meanwhile, issued a joint statement praising the collaboration and experimentation that went into making the film. “Yes, there were a couple of different cuts of the movie, but they all really had to do with finding the final shape of the movie,” Roven says. “I’ve been doing this for a long time, and that’s not the first time something like this has happened, and it won’t be the last.” Big tentpole films like “Suicide Squad,” he adds, also face hard release dates, so filmmakers don’t have the luxury of long postproduction periods with many different cuts. “And so sometimes,” Roven says, “in order to get the work done, you really just have to bring on more people and spend really long days and nights getting work done to get it ready.”

 

On Jared Leto’s The Joker scenes being cut out of Suicide Squad:

Jared Leto, who has second billing in “Suicide Squad” despite appearing onscreen for about 10 total minutes, has said that he thinks there was enough Joker footage shot to lend itself to its own movie. Says Roven: “David Ayer shoots a tremendous amount of footage, and when it comes to things having to do with the Joker, Jared does many takes and all the takes are very, very different, and sometimes the scenes can go on for a very long time, and sometimes the scenes can be, when you’re more on page, tighter, etc. Sometimes those impromptu scenes are fantastic, sometimes they’re not. That’s all part of the process.What you don’t want to do is you don’t want to limit the process.”

On Zack Snyder directing Justice League:

Before “Batman v Superman” even hit theaters, there were rumors and reports that potential negative reaction to the film could result in director Zack Snyder being fired from “Justice League,” which picks up after the events of “BvS.” Meanwhile, more than 17,000 people have signed a change.org petition to coax Warner Bros. to fire Snyder from the next superhero extravaganza. That didn’t happen, and a Snyder-directed “Justice League” is in production with release slated for November 2017. “I’m just saying you need to pay attention [to criticism], but you also need to stay true to your vision,” says Roven, who is in the process of making his third movie with Snyder in the director’s chair. “Zack Snyder is a great director.”

To read the full interview, head over to WSJ.com.