‘Suicide Squad 2’ To Be Directed By ‘The Accountant’ Helmer Gavin O’Connor
After a lengthy search, Warner Bros. and DC Films have finally hired a director forSuicide Squad 2:Gavin O’Connor, the man behind movies likeThe Accountant,Miracle, andPride and Glory. Find out more about the newSuicide Squad 2director below.
The Hollywood Reporterbroke the news about O’Connor directing the antihero sequel, as well as the fact that O’Connor has also been tapped to write the movie’s screenplay. That whooshing sound you hear? That’s a huge sigh of relief coming from WB executive board rooms, becauseSuicide Squad 2has been a priority for the studio ever since it made $745 million worldwide during its theatrical run. They’ve been having trouble locking someone in to direct, firstflirting with Mel GibsonbeforechoosingThe Shallowsdirector Jaume Collet-Serra…only to have Collet-Serrabail before signing onand head across town to direct Dwayne Johnson in Disney’sJungle Cruisemovie.
O’Connor is a fine choice, someone who’s already in the WB stable and who recently had a hit withThe Accountant– so much so thathe’s still attached to direct that movie’s sequel. Before that, he stepped in to wrangle the troubled production ofJane Got a Gun, but that movie didn’t make a peep when it finally crawled into theaters. For my money, though, O’Connor’s best film is 2011’sWarrior, an under-seen family sports drama about two brothers who face off in an MMA tournament that features excellent performances from Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, and Nick Nolte. Seek it out if you haven’t seen it, and you’ll instantly understand why O’Connor was on everyone’s short lists to direct big blockbusters for a little while after that film came out.
Suicide Squad 2will feature the return of Deadshot (Will Smith), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), the villainous Joker (Jared Leto), and presumably the rest of the antihero squad: Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), Katana (Karen Fukuhara), and Diablo (Jay Hernandez). Slipknot, we barely knew ye.
Not long ago, Kinnamansaidthat the plan was to shoot this sequel sometime in 2018, so it’s a good thing they’ve locked someone in early. David Ayer’s firstSuicide Squadmovie was an utter mess (he’s since moved on toGotham City Sirens), and its production problems have been extensively documented, so hopefully O’Connor will have enough time to write and prep this sequel and give himself a fighting chance to make a strong follow-up.
What do you think? Is O’Connor a good choice to write and directSuicide Squad 2?
