It was recently reported that The Shallows and Orphan director Jaume Collet-Serra had emerged as Warner Bros’ favourite to direct Suicide Squad 2, but it looks like they’re going to have to find someone else.
Deadline reports that Collet-Serra has signed on to direct Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson in a Disney adventure film called Jungle Cruise, which means he will no longer be available to direct the supervillain sequel. With reports suggesting that Warner Bros were looking to get going on Suicide Squad next year, it means that they will be moving quickly to find a replacement.
The quest to replace David Ayer has proven to be a (relatively) long one for the studio, and we’ve seen a few names flying around the rumour mill. The first was Mel Gibson, who said that he had talked about the possibility but who we can now assume with reasonable certainty has decided not to go for it.
Ruben Fleischer was rumoured but has ended up directing Tom Hardy in Sony’s solo Venom movie, but the other two names that were being kicked around could still be in contention, namely Daniel Espinosa (Safe House, Life) and Jonathan Levine (50/50, The Night Before). However, Espinosa was recently announced as re-teaming with his Life star Jake Gyllenaal in The Anarchists Vs Isis, and Levine has Charlize Theron-Seth Rogen comedy Flarsky on the way.
Suicide Squad 2 is still very much a priority for Warner Bros, which included it in their upcoming slate at Comic-Con. Meanwhile, Ayer is working on Gotham City Sirens. Or at least, we think he is, after he Tweeted a Harley Quinn picture following a Mashable report that his future with the Warner Bros DC movies was in doubt. If that film happens (and it won’t be happening for a while, as it wasn’t included in the Comic-Con slate), it will see Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, who will also be back for Suicide Squad 2, alongside (presumably) Will Smith, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Cara Delevingne and Karen Fukahara. Adam Kozad is currently working on the script.
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