Last year, in the wake of it officially being announced that Zack Snyder’s version of Justice League would be released, Suicide Squad director David Ayer suggested outright stated that there was an “Ayer Cut” of his DC movie. As we wrote last May: “In a tweet made in Spanish, Ayer confirmed the existence of such a director’s cut, and said that it’s almost finished besides some visual effects shots.”
He had made previous attempts to convey to the movie-going public that production on the film was troubled.
“Of course it exists,” he said in response to a fan asking about his version. “And it is almost complete except for some visual effects.” In a subsequent tweet he said finishing the movie he wanted to make would be “incredibly cathartic for me.” He added: “It’s exhausting getting your ass kicked for a film that got the Edward Scissorhands treatment. The film I made has never been seen.”
Fast forward to the present, and “The Snyder Cut” is up on HBO Max. Perhaps you saw it if you had four hours to spare over the past few days.
Coinciding with that release, WarnerMedia Studios CEO Ann Sarnoff spoke to Variety about that movie, in addition to the future of DC. About halfway through that interview, the hashtag “#RestoreTheSnyderVerse” was brought up. For the uninitiated that’s a new/certainly-doomed attempt to get Snyder’s vision expanded upon by giving him the reins for future DC films. Sarnoff (politely) pushed back on that by saying Snyder’s contributions to the DCEU were appreciated, but that the company’s going in a different direction. Immediately after that she was asked about future director cuts, with the “Ayer Cut” being mentioned by name. She said that cut won’t come out.
Here’s the relevant excerpt:
The campaign for #ReleaseTheSnyderCut has moved into a new phase. It’s now #RestoreTheSnyderVerse. What’s your reaction to this new campaign?
Some fans interpreted Sarnoff’s comment as confirmation that such a cut exists. As such, they made their pitches to get Ayer’s version of the 2016 film out in the way one now does that (see: hashtags...though I guess it did actually work last time).
Ayer too weighed in on it, while acknowledging that it probably wouldn’t make much sense to release it now since James Gunn’s follow-up is due out (for now) in August.
You can read Sarnoff’s whole interview with Variety here.
