'Suicide Squad' Is So Psychologically Lit Director David Ayer Hired an On-Set Therapist

Adam Beach (Slipknot) says David Ayer pushes the actors to the brink, even bringing a therapist aboard the production.

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Complex Original

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David Ayer is a well-documented purveyor of the precarious psychological territory between fact and fiction, with a sense of writing and direction that often inspires a blurred line between the two. Training Day (written by Ayer) pushed Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke to career-best performances. Last year's Fury was buoyed with the widely reported story of Shia LaBeouf slicing his own face and taking his famous affinity for method acting to new heights. The forthcoming Suicide Squad, set for 2016, seems to be exploring similar psychological waters.

In addition to Jared Leto's previously reported rat gift (typical Joker) to costar Margot Robbie, Ayer has enlisted the help of a therapist to assist the actors in safely reaching the brink of the human mind. "David Ayer is about realism," Adam Beach (Slipknot) tellsE! News. "So, if your character is tormented, he wants you to torment yourself. He wants the real thing. We kind of have like a therapist on board if you fall off the wagon and really are villainous. There’s a friend of [Ayer’s] that’s very unique in making sure we have our ground.”

Suicide Squadalso starsJai Courtney (Captain Boomerang), Will Smith (Deadshot), Cara Delevingne (Enchantress), Karen Fukuhara (Katana), Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flagg), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Killer Croc), Jay Hernandez (El Diablo), and Ben Affleck (Batman/Bruce Wayne) and arrives on August 5, 2016.

 

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