Tom Hardy is apparently no longer going to be a part of the star-studded Suicide Squad, as per an exclusive scoop from The Hollywood Reporter. The cast that consists of Will Smith as Deadshot, Jared Leto as The Joker, and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn will now need to recast Hardy who was slated to play Rick Flagg, the leader of the anti-hero group.
Scheduling conflicts are the rumored cause for the drop out. Suicide Squad has yet to start production, and Hardy is already working on The Revenant which is due to come out later this year. Filming of the Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu drama is said to be taking longer than expected, and could be a major reason for Hardy’s departure from Suicide Squad.
Early indications are that Jake Gyllenhaal could be on director David Ayer’s shortlist to take up the mantle of Flagg, which is quite the upgrade in terms of true acting chops. If his recent roles in Nightcrawler and Zodiac are any indication, Gyllenhaal is the real deal and would likely go great distances to transform himself into the role of Rick Flagg. Gyllenhaal also recently worked with Ayer on End of Watch.
The only major issue with Tom Hardy playing Flagg in most DC movie fanatics’ mind was the fact that he recently played Bane in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises. While the Nolan trilogy is no longer considered canon going forward in the DC cinematic universe, it still might have irked the pickiest of fans to see him playing two villainous characters so close together.
Suicide Squad is scheduled to release on August 5th, 2016 and there is no indication that Hardy’s departure will slow down production in any major way.
[button type=”link” link=”http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/tom-hardy-drops-suicide-squad-764095″ size=”btn-sm” variation=”btn-danger” target=”blank”]Source: The Hollywood Reporter[/button]
Last Updated on November 28, 2018.
