Stars of the new Suicide Squad movie talk about making a ‘rebootquel. »
The Suicide Squad, which opens in theaters and on HBO Max on August 6 features some of the same actors and characters, the same premise (a group of C-list comic book bad guys are brought together by a mysterious government agency) and almost the same name as 2016’s Suicide Squad. So is it a sequel or a remake?. Director James Gunn says, « I just think of it as itself. I think it’s for others to define it however they want. If somebody wants to call it a sequel, cool. A reboot? That’s fine, too. People have also called it a ‘rebootquel.' » Although a box office success, the 2016 movie was savaged by critics. Director David Ayer wanted to make an intense superhero drama like Christopher Nolan’s three Batman movies; the studio wanted a violent action comedy. Actor Joel Kinnaman, who returns as Rick Flag, the solider whose job it is to try to keep the Suicide Squad in line, says, « Sometimes It’s hard to make movies and there were some conflicting visions going into that film, or specifically in the post production and I think we all felt we didn’t quite live up to the promise that the film had. » Plans for a sequel never came together, although Margot Robbie’s breakout performance as the cheerfully unhinged Harley Quinn proved popular enough for her own spin-off movie 2020’s Birds of Prey. Enter writer/director Gunn who made The Guardians of the Galaxy movies for Marvel. A big part of the success of the Guardians franchise is the sense of humor Gunn brought to it. According to Kinnaman, « We really lucked out by getting James Gunn. There were several iterations of the follow-up and when James came in it became this real opportunity. » Robbie says, « I felt confident that whatever James’ take [on Harley Quinn] was gonna be, being a comic book lover, that it was going to be all stemming from the characteristics you see in the comics so I felt good about that, and I felt I was going to be in safe hands based on the other films he’s made. I was pretty confident that he was going to crush this and he did. I read the script and I was like ‘Oh he totally gets the character in the way that I do.' » « Harley doesn’t belong to me, » Robbie continues, « Truthfully Harley belongs to the fans and whatever they love about her.
