Will Smith and Margot Robbie upcoming film Focus is coming to movie theaters at the end of the month with little fanfare. The cerebral thriller seems to be far removed from the summertime blockbusters Smith was previously known for. However, the change might not be a bad thing. It is appears that Smith may be simply transitioning to a different phase in his career. Plus, he has at least one more summertime hit up his sleeve in next year’s highly anticipated movie, Suicide Squad.
Smith and Robbie are in the midst of a publicity tour and they are getting a lot of additional attention, since they are both starring in the Suicide Squad as the iconic DC villains, Deadshot and Harley Quinn. During a recent interview Smith shared director David Ayer’s (Fury) process:
“It’s really cool, the way that David Ayer works…It’s all images, all ideas, and he holds the screenplay [pretty close] and he just keeps sending you things about your character. He just wants you to be prepared for anything. [Ayer] only sends your character’s stuff so you don’t know what’s going on with the other characters; I think he wants it to come alive on set.”
While the actors may still be slightly in the the dark (did you notice Will give Margot the “don’t you say anything” eyes? Check it out at the :09 mark.), director David Ayer is in the midst of getting the pre-production logistics settled and fine-tuning the script. It is not uncommon for a director to only provide portions of the script to his cast. For a movie like Suicide Squad, Ayer may simply being using a director’s technique to increase the tension when the actors step on set.
However, Ayer is taking the time to study the complexities of all the members of the Squad. We know this because he has been trickling teases of comic influences, storyboards, and aspects of different character’s psychology on Twitter recently. In fact, Ayer posed an interesting question in regards to fan-favorite Harley Quinn and her psychology…or psychosis. He asks:
The case of Harley Quinn: Her madness defines her. Is she mad because of WHO she loves or because she loves him so much?
— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies)
There isn’t a formula for translating from the comic book page to the movie screen (fortunately). Ayer is asking the real world questions that make a fully developed and believable character. That was one of the strengths of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight universe. He was able to distill a character or villain, down to their very essence. He would then take the known and recognizable elements and build a person who is believable to the audience in the real world.
In the case of Harley, Ayer is trying to find out if her actions make her insane, or if her insanity is inherently present in her core. It’s an interesting question that can be skimmed over on the page or in cartoons. However, live-action is a different animal and Ayer has proven to be a gritty, real world director this far in his career. It’s doubly encouraging that he is both director and writer, so hopefully we can get an auteur vision on the material, much like James Gunn was afforded when he created Guardians of the Galaxy.
Actors go through many evolutions during the course of their career. While Smith has not burned all of his goodwill, audiences have grown accustomed or perhaps, slightly tired of his good guy image on and off screen. Interestingly he is joining the Batman legacy where the quote, “You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain” was coined. Smith is now literally personifying that statement. Smith elaborates on Deadshot’s moral compass, which is further askew than any character he has played previously.
“I guess I like the concept of dubious morals. I always liked to play in that area…With Suicide Squad, we just started on that. I think I haven’t explored the psychology enough of Deadshot, somebody who could take money to kill people and how he justifies that for himself. So, I still have a little bit of work to do on that. But in my life in general and in my career, those are the type of roles that I’m pushing more towards; those kinds of questions.”
It seems that Smith has acknowledged that it’s time to take a different course in his career. He has rarely played psychopathic or unhinged characters. Deadshot will give him the opportunity to begin exploring this new territory in the most hyper-realistic scenario, the DC universe. It is even more encouraging that Ayer and the Smith seem to be clear on their character’s motivations, even if the specifics have yet to be hashed out. Much like with Harley Quinn, it seems that the character has been stripped to his base and will be rebuilt with Smith in mind. This movie keeps getting more exciting every day.
Filming for Suicide Squad begins in mid-April. Suicide Squad is scheduled for release on August 5th, 2016.
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Source: CBM, Flicks and the City
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