James Gunn has previously spoken about Warner Bros. giving him "free reign" to do pretty much whatever he liked with his Suicide Squad sequel/reboot, and the writer/director has now elaborated on having the freedom to really let loose in order to deliver his type of R-rated superhero (well, supervillain) adventure.
“On The Suicide Squad I could just go anywhere I wanted to go,” Gunn tells Empire. “I mean, Marvel really lets me have a lot of freedom, but I’m still making a PG-13 movie. So I just loved the whole no-holds-barred approach of being able to make this enormous movie – with no rules!”
Part of that freedom involved Gunn being able to choose which characters from David Ayer's movie to bring back, and who to kill off! While we still don't know who'll survive the carnage, the filmmaker has already warned fans not to get too attached... to anyone!
Gunn was also able to bring his signature visual style to the proceedings, and the mismatch of costume designs was a very deliberate choice.
“I liked the idea of these disparate aesthetics, as if you’re bringing in each of these characters from a different movie or TV show,” he explains. “So Peacemaker is from a 1970s TV show; Bloodsport is more of a modern, scary, grimdark character; Ratcatcher 2 is from some Saw horror film; Javelin looks ridiculous; Savant is kind of cool, but also kind of Def Leppard in the wrong ways; and Harley is Harley! And they’re thrown together in this sort of natural, real world that we present with Corto Maltese, which is very grounded.”
Empire has also debuted a couple of new stills which you can check out below.
"Welcome to hell — a.k.a. Bell 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."
We recently found out that the movie was officially rated R for "strong violence and gore, language throughout, some sexual references, drug use and brief graphic nudity."
The Suicide Squad is set to premiere on HBO Max and in theaters on August 6.