On Sunday, director David Ayer tweeted out a picture of the cast of his film Suicide Squad. Adapted from a beloved DC comic, Suicide Squad is about a group of super-villains who, once captured, undertake difficult — some would say … suicidal — missions. Absent from the photo was one of the original stars of the movie, Tom Hardy. The Mad Max: Fury Road actor had been cast in the role of Rick Flagg, but he left the project in January. In a recent interview with Collider, Hardy explained his exit. Below is an annotated version of his explanation.
Warner Bros. is my home studio1 and I love them so I was really bummed out. I wanted to work on that and I know the script is really fucking alley2 and I also know what’s gonna happen with The Joker and Harley Quinn in that; I won’t give away too much3 … it’s fucking alley.4 And that whole territory is something that I would certainly — I mean, everybody loves The Joker.5 Everybody loves The Joker.6 Will Smith is a dope guy,7 but everybody loves The Joker and that’s gonna, I think, be a very important film for fans.
1.
You know who else called Warner Bros. his home studio? James Cagney. Do you think Hardy is just sitting in his flat (he has a flat), watching Angels With Dirty Faces, having a cup of tea, and thinking, That is a proper studio? Let’s go with “yes.”
2.
You may now commence calling things “fucking alley.” Havoc beats, La Azteca burritos, any hockey injuries above the sternum, what happens to Mark Ruffalo in Collateral: ALL FUCKING ALLEY.
3.
How amazing would it have been if Hardy straight-up destroyed the DC movie universe in an interview with Collider?
4.
IT’S FUCKING ALLEY.
5.
Sure.
6.
Actually, do you guys know anyone who loves The Joker?
7.
Hardy’s top five Will Smith movies: 1. Enemy of the State, 2. Where the Day Takes You, 3. Hancock, 4. Bad Boys II, 5. The Pursuit of Happyness.
There’s a very practical element as to why I’ve missed out on that foray, which is because Alejandro [G. Inarritu] has overshot by three months in Calgary,8 so we’ve got to go back out to Patagonia9 or Alaska to continue shooting The Revenant which has turned into a much bigger beast than we thought, but that also looks exceptional.
8.
You think Hardy putting Iñárritu on front street like this is pretty intense? You know what’s more intense? PUNCHING OSCAR-WINNING BIRDMAN DIRECTOR ALEJANDRO G. IÑÁRRITU IN THE FACE.
9.
Iñárritu is like, “Nah, I don’t like the light here in Calgary, guys. Everyone get on a 16-hour plane ride to Argentina so I can get a better shot of Leonardo DiCaprio TRAPPING BEAVERS.”
Literally we wrapped in Calgary for now until we go back in July. It would have smashed the two,10 I would’ve had a beard.11 It was just not gonna happen so I got ass-slammed technically out of Suicide Squad,12 gutted, so I had to hand it over to Joel Kinnaman, who will do an amazing job.13 It’s just I got bumped out, and that’s cool that’s the way it is.
10.
Here’s another phrase you should feel free to work into your everyday vocabulary. If the lunch option is Pret a Manger or Chop’t, feel free to smash the two.
11.
Taken out of context, “I would’ve had a beard,” makes up the entirety of the greatest English language poem of the 21st century.
12.
Funny enough, I think this is how Eric Stoltz described being fired from Back to the Future.
13.
Hardy’s five favorite Joel Kinnaman movies: 1. Safe House, 2. Season 4 of The Killing, 3. Easy Money III: Life Deluxe, 4. RoboCop, 5. Easy Money II: Hard to Kill.