Will Smith has offered an update on the status of upcoming DC Comics movie Suicide Squad.
Director David Ayer aimed to begin shooting the super-villain team-up movie this spring, before Tom Hardy dropped out of the lead role as Rick Flag.
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Joel Kinnaman, Jon Bernthal and Joel Edgerton are among the actors who are rumoured to replace Hardy as Rick Flag, who leads the villains on a mission of redemption.
Speaking to USA Today, Smith - who will play Deadshot - said that the recasting of Rick Flag has only led to a minor delay.
"[Ayer] turned the screenplay in before Christmas. What happens is Hollywood shuts down," Smith explained. "He was still working and he wanted to [start shooting] April 13. So it takes a couple weeks to gear back up at the top of the year and people have taken [other] movies. He's moving really quickly."
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His Focus and Suicide Squad co-star Margot Robbie added: "It's almost impossible to get a movie all together when there are two main cast members, let alone an ensemble cast with everyone's schedules. It's crazy if it works out."
Smith went on to reveal that the entire cast understands that making a Suicide Squad film comes with tremendous responsibility.
"We've still got to get it right," he said of finding a new Rick Flag.
Ayer has recently been tweeting about the progress of Suicide Squad, revealing that his film will adhere to the DC Comics title that it is based on.
Suicide Squad is released on August 5, 2016.
Justin is a freelance entertainment journalist and writer. He first joined Digital Spy as a freelance entertainment reporter in 2010 and also worked as a sub-editor for the brand, serving as Night News Editor from 2016 to 2024. Over more than a decade, Justin has covered numerous major entertainment events from the US and has interviewed a wide-ranging group of public figures, from comedian Steve Coogan to icons from the Star Trek universe, cast members from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reality stars from numerous Real Housewives cities and the Below Deck franchise. Justin has also been on the ground to cover major pop culture events like the Star Wars Celebration and the D23 Expo. He's written for titles across the Hearst network, plus the likes of CBR and Us Weekly.
