In a move that will surprise no one, David Ayer’s Suicide Squad will be rated PG-13—or, as producer Charles Roven puts it, “Right there on the edge of PG-13, but still PG-13,” splitting the difference between the guy who has been reading Suicide Squad since the ’80s and all those ticket sales from those who are under 17 and not accompanied by a parent or guardian.
“We really want to make [The DC Cinematic Universe] tonally consistent … because this is a shared universe,” Roven tells Collider in a recent interview. That being said, there seems to be a more filmmaker-centric approach at Warner Bros. than Marvel these days: Even the more cultish titles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe arguably can fall into the trap of being indistinguishable tonally and visually from the rest of the films, whereas DC movies like Man Of Steel and the upcoming Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice, are, for better or for worse, distinctive. Regarding writer/director David Ayer, Roven recalls, “[Warner Bros. executive] Greg Silverman said, ‘He’s got an idea on Suicide Squad, he wants to come in and pitch it.’ Having a guy like that who’s been able to—all of this films have a certain level of groundedness to them, really feeling very richly real.”
Roven goes on to say that he was excited about Ayer coming in because of the writer/director’s knack for telling a “family story,” which is true, if a family story is awful dudes bro-ing out while looking troubled and maybe shooting some people. (Ayer’s films do have a tendency to feature characters that rival David O. Russell’s in the unlikability department.) As far as the supervillains that make up the eponymous Squad, Roven says, “They’re very, very human in their own dysfunctional ways. And I think that the personal individuals’ stories and how they relate to each other will be surprising.”
In short, it would appear that Ayer’s #SuicideSquadGoals—we’re eagerly awaiting the character posters with that emblazoned on them— lined up perfectly with those of Warner Bros. Deadshot fanatics and Harley Quinn fetishists will be the judge and jury when Suicide Squad is released in August 2016.