The director of 2016’s Suicide Squad, David Ayer, has been posting new information about the production of the movie, including how he fought for the El Diablo character.
Actor Jay Hernandez, who played El Diablo, tweeted that he was frustrated that the studio chose to kill the Mexican character and used fire to do so. The director responded saying that the studio wanted to “rip more out,” and that he had “went to the mat” for the character.
Following a Twitter thread that accused him of using stereotypes with the El Diablo character, Ayer confirmed another user’s tweet that said the director grew up in South Central Los Angeles. Ayer stated, “I’m a whiteboy who grew up in Chicano spaces and reps Raza. Youngsters these days want to gatekeep. I earned my stripes.”
Finally, Ayer explained the choice of having El Diablo accidentally kill his family with his powers, likening it to “when someone drunk drives and kills people they love.” He described the two situations as “intentional but preventable,” and said that he had seen “a lot of mayhem.”
Suicide Squad was directed by David Ayer and released in 2016. Ayer has said before that his cut of the movie was very different from what ended up in theaters, while editor David Hickman has said that it was supposed to be a “much darker” film overall.
In 2021, James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad was released, serving as a soft reboot and featuring some of the same characters and actors as the 2016 movie.
