Warner Bros. and DC's The Suicide Squad will introduce multiple new characters to the DC Extended Universe, but a handful of veterans from David Ayer's film will reprise their roles for director James Gunn's new take on the supervillain team. Among the returning players is Joel Kinnaman, who portrays Special Forces officer Rick Flagg, and the actor recently discussed how his experience filming The Suicide Squad was like nothing he's worked on before.
During the behind-the-scenes preview presented at Warner Bros.' DC FanDome, The Suicide Squad producer Peter Safran likened the film to a "gritty 1970s war movie." Even before the comparison was made, fans had been speculating about whether or not The Suicide Squad might receive an R-rating. In April, Gunn fueled the speculation by advising fans to "wait and see" when directly asked if The Suicide Squad would be rated R when the film debuted in theaters.
Now, Kinnaman has noted that The Suicide Squad certainly felt like an R-rated comedy film while he was shooting the DC film. "That movie is going to be insane. The script is so funny. Every page of that script was funny, and every page made me laugh. James just has this command of that genre, but also over every aspect of comedy and even the marketing," Kinnaman said during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "He just understands the world so well, and since he wrote it, he really reinvents not just the concepts, but also the characters. For me, it was like I did my first comedy, but it’s like heavily R-rated. So much of the action is practical with real explosions, and yeah, that movie is going to be insane."
Joining Kinnaman as returning stars from the previous Suicide Squad film are Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, and Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang. "Yeah, there’s definitely some new members that are already becoming real friends, but there’s something about the first gang of lunatics," Kinnaman said of the new and familiar cast members. While Kinnaman noted that there were differences between both Suicide Squad films in terms of how they were made, neither production was troubled by a poorly behaved cast member. "There was more energy put into making the movie the second time around. The first time around, there was a lot of energy put into everything around us...There was never a bad ego on either of these films; not the first or the second one."
While it may seem counterproductive to limit the audience of the superhero blockbuster, Warner Bros. has experienced tremendous success with R-rated DC films as recently as last year. Director Todd Phillips' Joker became the only R-rated film to gross over $1 billion to date and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.
Still, some are not nearly as enthusiastic as others when it comes to the idea of R-rated superhero films, particularly those based on Marvel and DC characters. They best be prepared for such a rating to be given to The Suicide Squad, however, as James Gunn has already insinuated that the film will be a bloodbath.
The Suicide Squad is scheduled to be released in theaters on August 6, 2021.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter