‘Suicide Squad’ Producers on Success, Backlash, Cut Scenes and Zack Snyder 

Do Digitally Altered Photos Represent Fact or Fiction?

‘Suicide Squad’ Producers on Success, Backlash, Cut Scenes and Zack Snyder

‘Florence Foster Jenkins’ Review: From Glittering Failure, Mixed Success

Brexit Puts U.K. Comics in the Thick of It at the Fringe Festival

Thriller Tracks Rivalry Over Lightbulb Patent

‘The Disappearance’ Review: Suspense, Mystery and Heartbreak

‘The Lonesome West’ Review: Brotherly Loathing

‘Allied’ Teaser Shows Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard in Love and War

James Andrew Miller Digs Into Hollywood With ‘Powerhouse’

‘SNL’ Alums Taran Killam, Jay Pharoah Cast in New Showtime Projects

Leonard Cohen Announces New Album, ‘You Want It Darker’

Darth Vader Arrives in the New Trailer for ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’

Listen to President Obama’s Summer 2016 Playlist

Green Day Announces New Album ‘Revolution Radio,’ Shares Single ‘Bang Bang’

Aldous Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’ Coming to Television

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers visit http://www.djreprints.com.

Will Smith and Margot Robbie in \'Suicide Squad.\'

“Suicide Squad,” the latest movie in Warner Bros.’ planned slate of DC Comics films, opened last week to even more negative reviews than its widely panned predecessor, “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” deepening doubts about the franchise’s long-term viability.

Still, “Suicide Squad” had a big opening weekend and continued to post strong box-office results during the week, as it heads into a crucial second weekend. All eyes will be on how big a dropoff it suffers. For instance, “Batman v Superman” fell more than 69% in its second weekend, according to Box Office Mojo, which is considered a steep decline. “Suicide Squad,” however, is apparently registering more positively with audiences.

Charles Roven and Richard Suckle, two of the producers on “Suicide Squad,” are encouraged by the response the film has received outside of critical circles. “We’re ecstatic by the fan support and the fan reaction that we’ve received,” says Suckle, also a producer on the upcoming “Wonder Woman.” Likewise, Roven, who has been producing DC Comics movies for Warner Bros. since Christopher Nolan‘s “Batman Begins” in 2005, says he’s happy to see people who aren’t necessarily DC fans heading to theaters to see “Suicide Squad.”

Charles Roven, left, and Richard Suckle attend the \'Suicide Squad\' world premiere Aug. 1 in New York.

Roven, also a producer on “Batman v Superman” and “Justice League,” and Suckle talked with Speakeasy about the aftermath of “Suicide Squad” and how the DC extended film universe is shaping up, particularly with “Wonder Woman” and “Justice League” due out next year. Highlights follow:

Suckle and Roven think audiences are intrigued by the “Suicide Squad” characters, who aren’t necessarily that well known outside of comic-book and geek fandom, such as the hitman Deadshot (Will Smith), the gleefully psychotic Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and the ruthless government operator Amanda Waller (Viola Davis). “I think there’s a lot of fun in just enjoying the introduction, for lack of a better way of putting it, to these characters as [director] David Ayer‘s interpreted them from the source material,” Suckle says.

The Hollywood Reporter, citing sources, reported that there were multiple competing cuts of “Suicide Squad,” with several editors working on it to get it ready for release. Warner Bros. and Ayer, meanwhile, issued a joint statement praising the collaboration and experimentation that went into making the film. “Yes, there were a couple of different cuts of the movie, but they all really had to do with finding the final shape of the movie,” Roven says. “I’ve been doing this for a long time, and that’s not the first time something like this has happened, and it won’t be the last.” Big tentpole films like “Suicide Squad,” he adds, also face hard release dates, so filmmakers don’t have the luxury of long postproduction periods with many different cuts. “And so sometimes,” Roven says, “in order to get the work done, you really just have to bring on more people and spend really long days and nights getting work done to get it ready.”

Jared Leto, who has second billing in “Suicide Squad” despite appearing onscreen for about 10 total minutes, has said that he thinks there was enough Joker footage shot to lend itself to its own movie. Says Roven: “David Ayer shoots a tremendous amount of footage, and when it comes to things having to do with the Joker, Jared does many takes and all the takes are very, very different, and sometimes the scenes can go on for a very long time, and sometimes the scenes can be, when you’re more on page, tighter, etc. Sometimes those impromptu scenes are fantastic, sometimes they’re not. That’s all part of the process.What you don’t want to do is you don’t want to limit the process.”

The first trailer for “Wonder Woman,” which opens in June 2017 and stars Gal Gadot in the title role, made a huge splash at San Diego Comic-Con in July, building off the character’s triumphant big-screen debut in “Batman v Superman.” “It really riffed off of that,” says Suckle. “It was really looking to answer some of the questions raised, if not necessarily answered, about her place in the world as she was introduced in ‘Batman v Superman.’” Roven gives a lot of credit for the “Wonder Woman” excitement to director Patty Jenkins, whom he says helped the project really gel together.

“Every movie is unique unto itself,” says Suckle, meaning that each installment in the DC cinematic slate has its own director with a unique perspective, and is going to vary in tone and how the characters are portrayed. Roven, meanwhile, says that tonal changes from “Batman v Superman” to “Justice League” were going to happen anyway, because of the variety of characters (including Ezra Miller‘s Flash and Jason Momoa‘s Aquaman). “But, at the same time, while we’re in that process, we did take into consideration some of the things that we learned from some of the comments about ‘Batman v Superman,’” Roven adds.

Before “Batman v Superman” even hit theaters, there were rumors and reports that potential negative reaction to the film could result in director Zack Snyder being fired from “Justice League,” which picks up after the events of “BvS.” Meanwhile, more than 17,000 people have signed a change.org petition to coax Warner Bros. to fire Snyder from the next superhero extravaganza. That didn’t happen, and a Snyder-directed “Justice League” is in production with release slated for November 2017. “I’m just saying you need to pay attention [to criticism], but you also need to stay true to your vision,” says Roven, who is in the process of making his third movie with Snyder in the director’s chair. “Zack Snyder is a great director.”

While “Batman v Superman” has a dark tone, the trailer for “Justice League,” which also debuted at San Diego Comic-Con last month, plays up character interactions and humor. “I think one of the things Zack really wanted to do, because everybody knows that Zack certainly has an ability to shoot action, was to just say, ‘Hey, I can do this, too,’” Roven says. “It doesn’t have to be all action. These characters are going to be different once they begin to interact with each other.”

- Harley Quinn Breaks Out With “Suicide Squad”

Previous \'Allied\' Teaser Shows Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard in Love and War

Next Thomas Gibson Fired From \'Criminal Minds\'

Clinton Widens Lead Over Trump in Battleground States

Senior Justice Official Raised Objections to Iran Cash Payment

Preferred Stock: This Crazy Market Warps Another Asset

Give That Man a Cigar, but Quick Before the Regulations Kick In

Good News for M.B.A. Students: Tuition Is Now More Deductible

Capybaras Take Over Olympic Golf Course

Mysterious Shark Lives Hundreds of Years, Scientists Say

Opinion: How Global Elites Forsake Their Countrymen

What Teens Need Most From Their Parents

Stocks Hit New Highs; Some Argue That’s Just the Start

How the China Shock, Deep and Swift, Spurred the Rise of Trump