David Ayer Blasts The Theatrical 'Suicide Squad' Again: “The Studio Cut Is Not My Movie”

Following a tweet by film journalist Tim Grierson about loving James Gunn‘s “The Suicide Squad” and suggesting that director “David Ayer should just abandon the idea of [his] director’s cut,” Ayer, the director of 2016’s “Suicide Squad” — the film Grierson is specifically addressing — Ayer posted a lengthy rebuttal on Twitter once again disavowing the theatrical cut of that film, because it wasn’t his cut.

READ MORE: ‘The Suicide Squad’: James Gunn Inspires The DC Universe With Gnarly Irreverence, Superhero Subversion & A Big Beating Heart [Review]

“I put my life into Suicide Squad,” he said in his lengthy Tweet response.” “I made something amazing. My cut is intricate and emotional journey with some bad people who are shit on and discarded (a theme that resonates in my soul). The studio cut is not my movie. Read that again. And my cut is not the 10-week director’s cut – it’s a fully mature edit by Lee Smith standing on the incredible work by John Gilroy. It’s all Steven Price’s brilliant score, with not a single radio song in the whole thing. It has traditional character arcs, amazing performances, a solid third-act resolution. A handful of people have seen it.”

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The strange part of the message, titled “My turn,” is that Ayer has said a version of this story time and time again: Warner Bros. released their version of the movie, not his movie, his version is “amazing” (his words), and he was displeased with the final results, routinely trashed by critics.

David Ayer Talks About His “Amazing” Version Of ‘Suicide Squad’ & How It “Scared The Sh*t” Out Of WB

This had led some fans to champion the #ReleaseTheAyerCut movement, a similar campaign to the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement that eventually led to Warner Bros. letting that filmmaker, Zack Snyder, release his much-longer, version of “Justice League,” titled, “Zack Snyder’s Justice League.

READ MORE: James Gunn Says Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige Is “Way More Involved In Editing” Than The People At WB

But given that Snyder has spoken about more potential Justice League sequels and WB has essentially flat out said no, and positioned a new universe that will say goodbye to his “Snyderverse,” something Ayer’s film was also more tied to, it seems increasingly unlikely there will be an Ayer cut of “Suicide Squad.”

READ MORE: Joel Kinnaman Says David Ayer’s Cut Of ‘Suicide Squad’ Would Be “Much More Interesting,” Especially With More Joker

It may not matter if there’s anything really new in Ayer’s new post is that he vows to no longer discuss it, claiming this will be his final statement on the matter. “I never told my side of the story and never will … I’m old school like that. So I kept my mouth shut and took the tsunami of sometimes shocking personal criticism,” he wrote.

READ MORE: Zack Snyder Thinks David Ayer Should Get To Release His ‘Suicide Squad’ Cut & Will Talk To Him About It

Though clearly, this missive is a direct response to criticism that he is still addressing by reiterating, yet again, that the released cut is not his cut. Ayer begins by reiterating his “street” bonafides and ends by saluting James Gunn and wishing his film all the best.

READ MORE: David Ayer Was “A Good Soldier” When ‘Suicide Squad’ Hit Theaters But Says His Director’s Cut Is “F*cking Amazing”

Ayer’s arguably defensive post comes in the wake of many fans pointing out on Twitter that “Suicide Squad” has a dismal 20-something score on Rotten Tomatoes, and Gunn’s version as of yesterday had a 100% score (it went down to 99% today).

READ MORE: HBO Max Exec Wants Fans To Know The Snyder Cut Decision Is “Definitely Not A Precedent”

It should be noted that Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad” was originally positioned as a kind of “soft reboot” of Ayer’s “Suicide Squad,” and yes, characters like Joker (Jared Leto) and Dead Shot (Will Smith) aren’t in it. But having seen it, “The Suicide Squad” is really more of a direct sequel to Ayer’s movie and simply just does not include some of the same members recruited this time to work in a new Task Force X mission.

READ MORE: ‘Suicide Squad’: David Ayer Says ‘Deadpool’ Success & ‘BvS’ Failure Turned His “Soulful Drama” Into A Comedy

Read Ayer’s full statement below.