SUICIDE SQUAD Cast Announced
Warner Brothers has officially announced the cast of Suicide Squad.
As previously rumored, Jared Leto will step into the purple suit of the Joker, with Margot Robbie holding her own as Harley Quinn. Further dividing the film and television universes, the character Deadshot (who appears in Arrow, played by Michael Rowe) will be played by Will Smith.
As we previously covered in our overview of the DC slate, the Suicide Squad has had various members in the rotation. Formed by Rick Flagg, recent iterations of the team have been supervised by Amanda Waller (Cynthia Addai-Robinson on Arrow, Angela Bassett in Green Lantern), and sources say the front-runners to play Waller include Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Oprah Winfrey, whom sources say would be WB’s first choice for the part.
What? No CCH Pounder?
“The Warner Bros. roots are deep on this one,” WB President Greg Silverman said in a statement. “We look forward to seeing this terrific ensemble, under David Ayer’s amazing guidance, give new meaning to what it means to be a villain and what it means to be a hero.” It’s been said WB is looking at Suicide Squad as the superhero/villain equivalent of Ocean’s Eleven.
RELATED ~ Big Screen DC: Challenge of the Super Friends
The story is still under wraps, but the Heat Vision blog over at The Hollywood Reporter is running with speculation that Joker and Harley could be the “villains” against Task Force X as the “heroes”, since Joker has never been a part of the team and Harley only has been included since the New 52 reboot. This is also based on the way it went in the recent animated movie, Assault on Arkham Asylum, although it wouldn’t make sense to just remake that story in live action form.
Shooting in Toronto begins in April 2015 under the direction of David Ayer, with the (unconfirmed) possibility that Jesse Eisenberg will make an appearance as Lex Luthor following his debut in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Jai Courtney will step into the role of Boomerang (no Captain?), a part played by Nick Tarabay in the universe of The Flash and Arrow. Courtney, who will be the new Kyle Reese in Terminator: Genisys, is at least Australian.
The new face in the cast: Cara Delevinge, who doesn’t have as many acting credits to her name as she does modeling gigs. An English fashion model and actress, Delevinge will appear in the upcoming Pan, and will play Enchantress in Suicide Squad.
This raises a question: Is DC embracing magic with this heist movie? Enchantress got her powers from a magical being named Dzamor, and she’s been both hero and villain throughout the pages of DC Comics, serving on the Suicide Squad and fighting Supergirl, as well. Could she be the “ringer” who makes the mission go south about two-thirds of the way into the story?