The Suicide Squad is winning over a lot of people and there had been early ideas to have Task Force X being assembled to take down Superman. However, the main threat of the film was the Borg-like alien Starro The Conqueror, who was able to control the minds of anyone that was unlucky enough to get one of the self-replicated mini-Starro attached to their face.
James Gunn has revealed to the Script Apart podcast (via Comic Book) that one of the big reasons they didn’t go with Superman was the studio’s uncertainty about Henry Cavill sticking around or what exactly their DCEU plans for the son of Krypton moving forward.
“There was a time when I thought The Suicide Squad should fight Superman. At the time, there were a lot of questions like, ‘Who is Superman in the DCEU? Is this movie outside the DCEU?’ I just didn’t want to deal with it all that much.”
This could also explain why the Superman cameo in Shazam! was a stand-in, despite that film clearly takes place within the Snyderverse/DCEU.
It’s revealed that Idris Elba’s Bloodsport put Superman in the ICU after shooting him with Kryptonite bullet, so at the least they were able to add that small connective tidbit.
Gunn explained why he wanted to use Starro.
“I think he’s a perfect comic book character because he’s absolutely ludicrous but also very scary in his own way. What he does is scary. He used to scare the crap out of me when I was a child, putting those face-huggers on Superman and Batman. So I thought he was one of the major, major DC villains that was probably never going to be put into another movie. And if they did, it’d have been a ‘black cloud’ version of Starro. Not a giant walking starfish, a kaiju that’s bright pink and cerulean blue, this ridiculously big, bright bad guy.”
The studio has indicated that they’re keen on working with James Gunn again on more DC movies, but that seemingly won’t Gotham City Sirens as the director downplayed recent speculation on Twitter.
Warner Bros. has been trying to make a live-action feature film version of the beloved cyberpunk/body horror anime and manga Akira and their development goes back almost twenty years starting with Stephen Norrington (Blade) in 2002.
Multiple directors had tried to bring the project to the big screen only for things dissolve and the next set of creatives being hired.
The most recent incarnation had Oscar-winner Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, Jojo Rabbit) attempting to adapt for the studio, but seemingly hit a brick wall when trying to make sure he was able to cast a string of young Asian kids for the roles. Warner Bros. had been trying to whitewash the project for ages and even relocate the extremely Japanese story to Manhattan.
There had been an assumption that Taika Waititi had moved to bigger and brighter things with an original Star Wars movie on the horizon and his Flash Gordon movie at 20th Century Fox being upgraded from animation to live-action.
While promoting his acting performance in Ryan Reynolds’ Free Guy, he spoke to Wired giving the impression he’s still involved with Akira and hasn’t entirely walked away from it.
“I’m still trying [to make it]. I don’t wanna give up on that.”
Given his busy schedule and admitting his focus is now on his Star Wars project, it’s unlikely he’ll pivot to Akira anytime soon.
The last big anime adaptation was DreamWorks’ box office flop Ghost In The Shell, hopefully, Warner Bros. learns their lesson from that disaster.
If you’re interested in the development of Akira, you can read a feature I wrote for IGN covering the history of live-action adaptation and it includes a heap of concept artwork from various incarnations.
AKIRA – In 1988 the Japanese government drops an atomic bomb on Tokyo after ESP experiments on children go awry. In 2019, 31 years after the nuking of the city, Kaneda, a bike gang leader, tries to save his friend Tetsuo from a secret government project. He battles anti-government activists, greedy politicians, irresponsible scientists and a powerful military leader until Tetsuo’s supernatural powers suddenly manifest. A final battle is fought in Tokyo Olympiad exposing the experiment’s secrets.
Wes Anderson is assembling quite the cast for his next feature film.
The untitled movie already has Wes Anderson regulars Bill Murray (Rushmore, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The French Dispatch, Isle of Dogs, The Royal Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom), Tilda Swinton (Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch), and Adrien Brody (The Darjeeling Limited, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch) among the cast.
The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Oscar-nominee Margot Robbie is set to take a supporting role as well. Robbie was recently seen in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad with more awards caliber credits such as The Wolf of Wall Street, Bombshell, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, and sports drama I,Tonya.
He’ll also work with two-time Oscar-winner Tom Hanks, who is reportedly taking a cameo role in the pic.
Plot details have been kept under wraps and might be a while before we know what it’s exactly about or who the cast will be playing. I’m sure fans will be interested to know if Wes is attempting something more in the way of genre filmmaking (western or sci-fi) or still continue in the realm of quirky character-driven comedy.
A release timeline hasn’t been given but it’s assumed that the movie will land at Searchlight Pictures with a potential festival run in 2022 if the film is completed in time.
His latest movie, The French Dispatch, will be released by Searchlight Pictures on October 22.
The French Dispatch brings to life a collection of stories from the final issue of an American magazine published in a fictional 20th-century French city. It stars Benicio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Léa Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, Lyna Khoudri, Jeffrey Wright, Mathieu Amalric, Stephen Park, Bill Murray, and Owen Wilson.
The Suicide Squad is getting some positive reactions from fans, critics, and casual moviegoers alike. But despite all the praise the film from James Gunn, it looks like a popular DC Comics character was nixed from the sequel.
Fans have spotted that Slade Wilson, aka, Deathstroke was supposed to lead Team Two in the film via concept artwork (See below) in the production offices. However, we know that Bloodsport, played by Idris Elba, was the character that ultimately chosen. It’ll be interesting to find out why they wanted Deathstroke in the film in the first place and why they pivoted.
Em novas artes conceituais do filme, podemos ver que o Deathstroke estava sendo considerado para liderar o Esquadrão Suicida ao invés do Bloodsport. pic.twitter.com/Jib3xgKw6K
I’m sure we’ll see get some insight from James Gunn in the near future.
If you’re not aware, Joe Manganiello was cast as Deathstroke for a button scene in Justice League with the idea he would appear in Ben Affleck’s Batman movie and had a solo film in development from The Raid director Gareth Evans. We don’t know if Manganiello was ultimately going to play Slade Wilson in The Suicide Squad, but it was likely.
Welcome to hell—a.k.a. Belle Reve, the prison with the highest mortality rate in the US of A. Where the worst Super-Villains are kept and where they will do anything to get out—even join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X. Today’s do-or-die assignment? Assemble a collection of cons, including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin and everyone’s favorite psycho, Harley Quinn. Then arm them heavily and drop them (literally) on the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese. Trekking through a jungle teeming with militant adversaries and guerrilla forces at every turn, the Squad is on a search-and-destroy mission with only Colonel Rick Flag on the ground to make them behave…and Amanda Waller’s government techies in their ears, tracking their every movement. And as always, one wrong move and they’re dead (whether at the hands of their opponents, a teammate, or Waller herself). If anyone’s laying down bets, the smart money is against them—all of them.
The film stars Margot Robbie (“Birds of Prey,” “Bombshell”), Idris Elba (“Avengers: Infinity War”), John Cena (upcoming HBO Max series “Peacemaker,” “Bumblebee”), Joel Kinnaman (“Suicide Squad”), Jai Courtney (the “Divergent” franchise), Peter Capaldi (“World War Z,” BBC’s “Doctor Who” ), David Dastmalchian (upcoming “Dune,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp”), Daniela Melchior (“Parque Mayer”), Michael Rooker (the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films), Alice Braga (“Elysium”), Pete Davidson (“The King of Staten Island,” TV’s “Saturday Night Live”), Joaquín Cosio (“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” TV’s “Narcos: Mexico”), Juan Diego Botto (“The Europeans”), Storm Reid (“The Invisible Man,” “A Wrinkle in Time”, “Euphoria”), Nathan Fillion (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” TV’s “The Rookie”), Steve Agee (“Brightburn,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”), Sean Gunn (the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films, the “Avengers” films), Mayling Ng (“Wonder Woman”), Flula Borg (“Ralph Breaks the Internet”), Jennifer Holland (“Brightburn,” upcoming HBO Max series “Peacemaker”) and Tinashe Kajese (TV’s “Valor,” “The Inspectors”), with Sylvester Stallone (the “Rocky,” “Rambo” and “Expendables” franchises), and Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Suicide Squad”).
The Ronin can confirm that James Gunn’s HBO Max series Peacemaker has added British cinematographer Sam McCurdy, who is likely best known for shooting Neil Marshall’s Blackwater episode of Game of Thrones. Pacemaker is a direct spinoff of Gunn’s upcoming sequel The Suicide Squad focusing on the origins of John Cena’s character Christopher Smith.
Oh f*ck, it’s Peacemaker! HBO Max is set to explore the origins of the Peacemaker character, the master of weapons from the highly anticipated upcoming The Suicide Squad film, in the new Max Original action-adventure-comedy series Peacemaker. HBO Max has given a straight-to-series order of eight episodes for the first season of the show. John Cena will reprise his role from The Suicide Squad movie to star in the series, and the film’s acclaimed writer/director James Gunn will write all eight episodes of Peacemaker and will direct multiple episodes, including the first.
Sam McCurdy also worked with Neill Marshall on his feature films Dog Soldiers, The Descent, Doomsday, and Centurion. Other credits include Netflix’s Lost In Space (Neil Marshall again), The Hills Have Eyes 2, The Devil’s Double, Into The Badlands, Pennyworth, and Carnival Row.
He isn’t the only seasoned cinematographer on the DC Comics project as Michael Bonvillain (Westworld, Zombieland, Cloverfield, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Outside The Wire) was announced a while back.
The show’s directing team working alongside James Gunn consists of Jody Hill (Eastbound & Down), Rosemary Rodriguez (Jessica Jones), and Brad Anderson (Boardwalk Empire).
James Gunn previously announced that Peacemaker will debut on HBO Max sometime in January 2022 and you’ll get your first real taste of John Cena as the character on August 6 in The Suicide Squad.
THE SUICIDE SQUAD – Welcome to hell—a.k.a. Belle Reve, the prison with the highest mortality rate in the US of A. Where the worst Super-Villains are kept and where they will do anything to get out—even join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X. Today’s do-or-die assignment? Assemble a collection of cons, including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin and everyone’s favorite psycho, Harley Quinn. Then arm them heavily and drop them (literally) on the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese. Trekking through a jungle teeming with militant adversaries and guerrilla forces at every turn, the Squad is on a search-and-destroy mission with only Colonel Rick Flag on the ground to make them behave…and Amanda Waller’s government techies in their ears, tracking their every movement. And as always, one wrong move and they’re dead (whether at the hands of their opponents, a teammate, or Waller herself). If anyone’s laying down bets, the smart money is against them—all of them.
The Ronin can confirm that veteran director Brad Anderson is the latest person added to the directing team on James Gunn’s Peacemaker series starring John Cena. Anderson’s credits include the Christian Bale thriller The Machinist, Beirut starring Jon Hamm and Rosamund Pike, Fringe, Boardwalk Empire, The Wire, The Shield, Treme, The Killing, Almost Human, The Man In The High Castle, Treadstone, and Titans.
The HBO Max show is a direct spinoff of Gunn’s upcoming film The Suicide Squad.
Oh f*ck, it’s Peacemaker! HBO Max is set to explore the origins of the Peacemaker character, the master of weapons from the highly anticipated upcoming The Suicide Squad film, in the new Max Original action-adventure-comedy series Peacemaker. HBO Max has given a straight-to-series order of eight episodes for the first season of the show. John Cena will reprise his role from The Suicide Squad movie to star in the series, and the film’s acclaimed writer/director James Gunn will write all eight episodes of Peacemaker and will direct multiple episodes, including the first.
We previously reported that Jody Hill (Observe & Report, Eastbound & Down) is also directing on the DC Comics series alongside James Gunn and Rosemary Rodriguez (Jessica Jones).
Peacemaker is said to debut January 2022 on HBO Max.
THE SUICIDE SQUAD – Welcome to hell—a.k.a. Belle Reve, the prison with the highest mortality rate in the US of A. Where the worst Super-Villains are kept and where they will do anything to get out—even join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X. Today’s do-or-die assignment? Assemble a collection of cons, including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin and everyone’s favorite psycho, Harley Quinn. Then arm them heavily and drop them (literally) on the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese. Trekking through a jungle teeming with militant adversaries and guerrilla forces at every turn, the Squad is on a search-and-destroy mission with only Colonel Rick Flag on the ground to make them behave…and Amanda Waller’s government techies in their ears, tracking their every movement. And as always, one wrong move and they’re dead (whether at the hands of their opponents, a teammate, or Waller herself). If anyone’s laying down bets, the smart money is against them—all of them.
While James Gunn has been set-out to make multiple Guardians of The Galaxy films, he once mused about the idea of adapting Marvel Comics supervillain team Thunderbolts for the big screen. The group is essentially Marvel’s version of The Suicide Squad and various members have been introduced over the years to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
When Gunn was fired from the third Guardians movie he met with Warner Bros. and led to him writing/directing their sequel The Suicide Squad. During a Q&A session on his Instagram stories, James reaffirmed to a fan that he isn’t looking to make a Thunderbolts movie for Marvel Studios and that The Suicide Squad “scratched that itch.”
This doesn’t mean that Marvel Studios won’t pursue a Thunderbolts project just because Gunn isn’t stepping away from his original idea of adapting the team. As previously mentioned, Marvel seems to be aiming to leave the door open for them to be assembled at some point as Daniel Bruhl’s Baron Zemo ended-up in Thunderbolt Ross’ super-prison The Raft by the final episode of The Falcon & The Winter Soldier series.
Other folks that might be part of the roster could include Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer, William Hurt’s Thunderbolt Ross aka Red Hulk, Emily VanCamp’s Sharon Carter, Hannah John-Kamen’s Ghost, Tim Roth’s Emil Blonsky aka Abomination, and the newly added John Walker aka U.S. Agent played by Wyatt Russell. Black Widow’s Yelena Belova and Taskmaster could also be contenders depending on the outcome of that film.
It’ll be interesting to see if Marvel if we’ll see the Thunderbolts introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe before Captain America 4. I’m also curious if the MCU version could combine Dark Avengers and Thunderbolts into one streamlined group.
Gunn has said that Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 is going to be end of his journey but isn’t ready to say he’s closing the door on making another Guardians project down the line.
Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn has three feature films and the actress is still pining for Warner Bros. to move forward with Harley and Poison Ivy’s relationship as seen in the cartoons and comic books. The pair of female rogues have been longtime favorites and were first paired-up in the Batman animated series from the 1990s.
While speaking with Den of Geek, Margot says she is still pestering the studio about it but it’s unknown if we’ll see more Harley Quinn after The Suicide Squad.
ROBBIE: “Trust me, I chew their ear off about it all the time. They must be sick of hearing it, but I’m like, ‘Poison Ivy, Poison Ivy. Come on, let’s do it.’ I’m very keen to see a Harley-Poison Ivy relationship on screen. It’d be so fun. So I’ll keep pestering them. Don’t worry.”
This isn’t the first time Robbie has been chatting up the idea of seeing Ivy and Harley together on the big screen. She said the following during a chat with Pride Source.
ROBBIE: “If you read the comics you know that Poison Ivy and Harley have an intimate relationship. In some comics they convey it as a friendship; in other comics you can see that they’re actually sexually involved as a couple. I’ve been trying to—I would love to have Poison Ivy thrown into the universe, because the Harley and Poison Ivy relationship is one of my favorite aspects of the comics, so I’m looking to explore that on screen.”
Originally, there were plans for a Gotham City Sirens film that would have brought Selina Kyle aka Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn together before the studio pivoted to make Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey instead pairing her with heroines Huntress and Black Canary.
The Suicide Squad is set for release on August 6, 2021.
THE SUICIDE SQUAD – Welcome to hell—a.k.a. Belle Reve, the prison with the highest mortality rate in the US of A. Where the worst Super-Villains are kept and where they will do anything to get out—even join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X. Today’s do-or-die assignment? Assemble a collection of cons, including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin and everyone’s favorite psycho, Harley Quinn. Then arm them heavily and drop them (literally) on the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese. Trekking through a jungle teeming with militant adversaries and guerrilla forces at every turn, the Squad is on a search-and-destroy mission with only Colonel Rick Flag on the ground to make them behave…and Amanda Waller’s government techies in their ears, tracking their every movement. And as always, one wrong move and they’re dead (whether at the hands of their opponents, a teammate, or Waller herself). If anyone’s laying down bets, the smart money is against them—all of them.
The film stars Margot Robbie (“Birds of Prey,” “Bombshell”), Idris Elba (“Avengers: Infinity War”), John Cena (upcoming HBO Max series “Peacemaker,” “Bumblebee”), Joel Kinnaman (“Suicide Squad”), Jai Courtney (the “Divergent” franchise), Peter Capaldi (“World War Z,” BBC’s “Doctor Who” ), David Dastmalchian (upcoming “Dune,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp”), Daniela Melchior (“Parque Mayer”), Michael Rooker (the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films), Alice Braga (“Elysium”), Pete Davidson (“The King of Staten Island,” TV’s “Saturday Night Live”), Joaquín Cosio (“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” TV’s “Narcos: Mexico”), Juan Diego Botto (“The Europeans”), Storm Reid (“The Invisible Man,” “A Wrinkle in Time”, “Euphoria”), Nathan Fillion (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” TV’s “The Rookie”), Steve Agee (“Brightburn,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”), Sean Gunn (the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films, the “Avengers” films), Mayling Ng (“Wonder Woman”), Flula Borg (“Ralph Breaks the Internet”), Jennifer Holland (“Brightburn,” upcoming HBO Max series “Peacemaker”) and Tinashe Kajese (TV’s “Valor,” “The Inspectors”), with Sylvester Stallone (the “Rocky,” “Rambo” and “Expendables” franchises), and Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Suicide Squad”).
While there had been previous hints by writer/director James Gunn that he might end his Marvel tenure with Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3, the filmmaker has now suggested on Twitter that might not exactly be the case and even leaves the door open for Guardians as well.
It was thought that his dramatic firing and rehiring might have soured his feelings towards both Disney and Marvel Studios, which might be understandable given that the company eventually backtracked from their choice to remove James from the Guardians sequel. However, the opportunity allowed him to play in the DCEU sandbox making The Suicide Squad for Warner Bros. and the spinoff series Peacemaker for HBO Max, so it wasn’t all bad.
We don’t know for sure if he’ll come back to make more installments of Guardians of The Galaxy or move towards other things he’s been itching to tackle like the Thunderbolts, Marvel’s version of the Suicide Squad.
One of his screenwriting tasks for 20th Century Fox early in his career was working on incarnation of the solo Silver Surfer movie that never materialized. The property now back at Marvel Studios is one project that Ant-Man’s Adam McKay has been keen on developing for a while now. Perhaps, we could see James and Adam join forces for a Silver Surfer movie, that could be rad, right?
We’ll have to see how Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 ends and if Gunn still has ideas he wants to pursue with those oddball cosmic characters for another wave of feature films or Disney+ projects. He has somewhat teased more DC Comics stuff could be on the way but what that might be is a little unclear at the moment.
The Suicide Squad is set for release by Warner Bros. on August 6, 2021 and Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 will shoot in the United Kingdom in the near future with a release date of May 5, 2023.
Dave Bautista isn’t automatically thought of as a leading man despite leading a handful of projects in the past, but he’s aiming to branch-out from his intimidating supporting roles with his upcoming action-horror flick Army of The Dead, directed by Zack Snyder.
He was originally offered a role in James Gunn’s R-rated DC Comics film The Suicide Squad but reveals to Digital Spy in a recent interview the reasons he decided to do Army of The Dead instead. Those coming down to a bigger role, a lot more money, building a professional relationship with streaming giant Netflix and getting to work with Zack.
BAUTISTA: “James Gunn wrote a role for me in The Suicide Squad, which I was all fired up about, not only because he was making a huge comeback. He’s come back with The Suicide Squad and was rehired by Marvel, and has really been vindicated as far as that whole thing went. I was all up for it, and then I got Army of the Dead, which was not only a lead role for me, but also I really wanted to work with Zack Snyder. I’ve been wanting to work with him for years.”
“I had The Suicide Squad where I got to work with my boy again, even though it’s a smaller role, and then I had Army of the Dead on which I get to work with Zack, I get to build a relationship with Netflix, I get a lead role in a great film – and I get paid a lot more money. I had to call James, and I told him, ‘It breaks my heart, because as a friend, I want to be there with you, but professionally, this is the smart decision for me.'”
You can’t really blame Bautista to make a career move like that to give himself bigger exposure with a leading role over another supporting role.
The film stars Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Ana de la Reguera, Matthias Schweighöfer, Nora Arnezeder, Hiroyuki Sanada, Raúl Castillo, Michael Cassidy, Tig Notaro, and Garret Dillahunt.
ARMY OF THE DEAD – After a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, a group of mercenaries takes the ultimate gamble by venturing into the quarantine zone for the greatest heist ever.