A lot has been said about the official kick-off of the DC Cinematic Universe with the release of Batman v Superman and the mixed reception it received. Many fans are worried about the direction the rest of the series will take with the upcoming films – the next of which is Suicide Squad, which is trying to balance a lot more fun into the dark themes already set in the aforementioned film. The film has a stellar cast, but one of the pivotal characters in the film is that of Deadshot played by Will Smith. There are few actors who can play a wise cracking character better than the Fresh Prince himself and so I think it is a casting decision that is spot on.
Deadshot (not to be mistaken with Deadpool as I’ve heard people do) was introduced as a character over 65 years ago as a villain to Batman, but has yet to grace the screens in any of the movies since, which was one of the appealing things that drew Will Smith to the character in the first place, as he revealed to ComingSoon.net.
It’s a character that hasn’t really been explored in cinema. I get to design it and be a part of creating the first round of Deadshot in the history of cinema… It’s a really great opportunity to work with a really great ensemble. It was perfectly cast. It’s an insane group of super actor villains.
Although Smith’s appearance as Deadshot will be his first appearance in either of the DC or Marvel movies, it isn’t Will Smith’s first comic book movie. The Men in Black franchise was itself based on a relatively unknown comic book series at the time published by Aircel in 1980. It is also not Smith’s first appearance in a super hero movie, as he also starred in Hancock back in 2008. Despite all this, Smith has not really gotten involved in the comic book scene and isn’t an avid reader of the literary form:
As a child, my brother was really into it. I was sort of banned from his comic books. It was sort of sacred land. But probably in the last three or four years, I started getting into it. I started paying attention a bit more. It was a little bit of a benefit coming from the outside and getting exposed to it because I got to do a deep dive over a six or seven month period, taking them all in and reading them back to back. It felt like it gave me a little more freedom to create in my mind rather than being trapped in your childhood images.
Sounds like sibling abuse to me. Every kid should have a right to get into comic books, otherwise they turn out like Nick and no one wants that.
After Suicide Squad, Smith will be immediately reteaming up with the film’s director David Ayer for Bright, an End of Watch-style thriller set in a contemporary world of orcs and magic wands.
It’s David Ayer’s tonal quality. It’s how he thinks and how he moves and how he sees the world.
It’s also Ayer that Smith trusts to find the right balance to the film against the rapidly expanding big screen DCU.
These kinds of movies are a different breed. The huge, gigantic tent-poles that are designed to be global behemoths. I wanted to do something like that with David Ayer, who is a director that cares only about character. Every single aspect and detail of the character playing into that gigantic box for me is what makes this one really special.
As much as all the action set pieces are important, he is right that it is the characters that make a difference in films like these. Just look at the strong character development from the Marvel films as a great example. Its a pity that its come to looking at Marvel’s example at how to make films such as these when it was DC films from Warner Bros that dominated this in the past.
Suicide Squad also stars Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Jared Leto as the Joker, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flagg, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, Cara Delevingne as Enchantress, Karen Fukuhara as Katana, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc, Jay Hernandez as El DIablo, Adam Beach as Slipknot and Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. There’s also mystery roles for Ike Barinholtz, Scott Eastwood, Raymond Olubowale, Alex Meraz, Jim Parrack, and Common – some of whom I expect ot perhaps reveal secrets to other characters and films that Warner and DC could be looking to expand in the series.
Are you looking forward to Suicide Squad or did BvS put a damper on your DC parade?
Last Updated: May 5, 2016
