Despite making money, David Ayer’s 2016 “Suicide Squad” film was not well received overall and at the very least even its supporters were often well aware of numerous compromises and problems behind-the-scenes on the film.
No such issues appear to have plagued James Gunn’s upcoming “The Suicide Squad,” not a direct sequel so much as a semi-reboot with the return of some familiar characters and a whole bunch of new ones.
One returnee is Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flag, Amanda Waller’s right-hand man who leads Task Force X into battle. Kinnaman recently spoke with CBR and has nothing but praise for the filming experience, Gunn himself and the franchise’s switch to more straight up comedy:
“When I got the script sent to me, it’s so funny. Like every page made me laugh. I was sitting at home reading it laughing out loud. We had a great time shooting the first one, but this was something really special. I’ve never done a comedy before, and this felt like my first comedy. And I think in the first Suicide Squad, I’m not disappointed with my work in there, but…I never played around with it. I felt like I had these parameters that confined me in a way.
So it was a great feeling for me to do the second one because James just opened up the possibilities for the character, and it became much more comedic. And he really taught me how to find the comedy and where the opportunities for that was. And so it was a great learning experience. It was really fun, and both me and James, I think we had a great time working with each other on it. I can’t wait for people to see that film. I think it’s going to be so good.
He wasn’t the only one happy with it either. He says he’s head the studio is “over the moon” about the film and adds: “Warner Bros. basically [has] very few notes, like, almost no notes on the director’s cut, which is unheard of on a big movie.”
“The Suicide Squad” isn’t classed to hit cinemas until August next year.