David Ayer’s Suicide Squad is now a man down (I wonder how many puns like this are being formulated across the blogosphere). Tom Hardy, thanks to Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant going over schedule into March, and his already existing promotional schedule for Mad Max: Fury Road, has been forced to drop out of the super-villain team-up.
Considering I’d argue he was the finest actor in the cast that was officially announced (check out Locke sometime if you haven’t), this would seem to be a huge loss for the production. Now, Warner Bros. is looking to find a new Col. Rick Flagg and they may already have someone in mind.
According to The Wrap, the studio is courting Jake Gyllenhaal, who recently starred in, and should have been Oscar-nominated for, Nightcrawler. WB has long flirted with Gyllenhaal for various comic-based roles, most notably he was almost cast as Batman in Batman Begins. But don’t let recent pictures from Nightcrawler fool you, Gyllenhaal has put on some serious bulk for his upcoming role in Southpaw.
Suicide Squad currently stars Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jared Leto, Jai Courtney and Cara Delevinge. Viola Davis and Jesse Eisenberg are still in talks to join the picture as well.
Suicide Squad opens on August 5th, 2016.
I say they recast Will Smith as Rick Flagg and find someone (mmmmaybe Jake Gyllenhaal) to play Deadshot. But then, WB has been notably delinquent when it comes to consulting me on their casting choices.