David Ayer Struggles to Remember The Definition of Insanity; Signs On To Direct The Harley Quinn Spin-Off

At this point, the oral history of Suicide Squad’s production has become pretty set in stone. The behind the scenes traumas, the hasty reshoots, the competing cuts — it’s almost a parody of the troubled studio production. And, even worse, it’s not even one of those stories where a terrible production delivered an excellent product: Suicide Squad was panned across the board, with fans and critics alike massively disappointed by the comic book team-up. If it wasn’t for fellow DC film Batman v. Superman earlier in the year, Suicide Squad would likely be remembered as the most widely hated blockbuster of 2016.

So why wouldn’t director David Ayer want to jump right back on to that train, huh?

Despite all the reports of his displeasure with the film’s final cut, and the clear amount of stress that came with trying to make this beast actually work, THR is reporting that David Ayer has signed on to direct Gotham City Sirens, the female-led Suicide Squad spin-off starring Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn. Robbie herself was the leader in getting this film made, earning herself a producer credit and everything — so for that reason, it shouldn’t be that odd to see her re-team with the director who helped bring the character to life in the first place.

But on the other hand…fucking really?

I mean, I’m more shocked with Ayer than anything — literally everything I’ve read about Suicide Squad shows that he went through hell making that film, having to deal with WB’s impossible timeline and ultimate displeasure with his version of the movie. Sure he has a tight relationship with the studio, but wouldn’t his initial, quite bad experience with the DC Universe burn him off of this, at least for a while? The fact that he’s jumping right back into it, all things considered, is pretty shocking.

Then again, the main factor here is probably the money: for all of Suicide Squad’s faults, it was a huge success financially, and you have to imagine Ayer will get a healthy paycheck for taking this on. But yet this still feels like watching a couple get back together after a VERY nasty break-up — like, maybe you two are better off seeing other people for a while, you know?

No matter — at this point Ayer is fully on board for Gotham City Sirens, which will also feature female villains like Poison Ivy and Catwoman working together. Which is pretty great in and of itself: after all, the world could use more female-led comic book movies, and who better to bring their unique experiences and diverse viewpoint to the project than the guy who directed Street Kings, right?