July 29, 2021

By Lapacazo Sandoval

Contributing Writer

 

Ladies and gentlemen and all of those that live in-between hold on to your proverbial hats because “The Suicide Squad” from the beautiful mind of writer/director James Gunn, Warner Bros. Pictures’ is scheduled to open nationwide in theaters and IMAX on August 6.

This new superhero action-adventure from the DC world features a collection of the most degenerate delinquents in the DC lineup.

Here’s how it starts. Buckle up — welcome to hell—a.k.a. Belle Reve, the prison with the highest mortality rate in the US of A. Where the worst Super-Villains are kept and where they will do anything to get out—even join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X. Today’s do-or-die assignment? Assemble a collection of cons, including Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin, and everyone’s favorite psycho, Harley Quinn. The next step, arm them heavily and drop them (literally) on the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese. Trekking through a jungle teeming with militant adversaries and guerrilla forces at every turn, the Squad is on a search-and-destroy mission with only Colonel Rick Flag on the ground to make them behave...and Amanda Waller’s government techies in their ears, tracking their every movement. And as always, one wrong move and they’re dead (whether at the hands of their opponents, a teammate, or Waller herself). If anyone’s laying down bets, the smart money is against them—all of them.

At the Zoom press conference held last week — the team teased actor Idris Elba (“Avengers: Infinity War”) with many of the cast confessing that they signed on for an opportunity to work with the gifted Elba who plays Bloodsport, a world-class marksman, specializing in brutality—his hands, and anything he wields with them, are deadly weapons. He’s trained by his mercenary father from the moment he was born, which developed him into a hardened criminal with one, hidden soft spot, a weakness that Amanda Waller uses to persuade (i.e. blackmail) him to join the Squad.

“Bloodsport is a character that lives deep in the vaults of the DC world,” says Idris Elba. “He comes from this sort of very tough military background and has an incredible amount of tech. But he’s quite a grumpy guy and not fun to be around. He’s disgruntled. He’s been in jail for a long time and hates the system. He hates Superman—he’s in jail for putting him in intensive care.”

Writer/director Gunn confessed that the creative team at Warner Bros gave him free rein to cast the film as he saw fit. “I’ve been a fan of Idris’s for a long time,” Gunn says. “I didn’t even know what character he was going to play at first, I just knew I wanted Idris to play the character.”

To that end, the directors’ desire to work with Elba was discussed more than once. As for Elba’s opinion of Gunn, he said this: “I love James, man. I was really happy to be given this role. He came to see me and was super hyped, and I just fell in love with his spirit immediately. And I really enjoyed watching how he works because you’re watching a master.”

There are a lot of creative people that make a film like “The Suicide Squad” come to life. For example, drawing Bloodsport, aka Robert DuBois, may be an artist’s dream, but bringing him to life was a big challenge, due mainly to the weapons integrated into his suit. He is the ultimate soldier, transforming at will and always ready for action.

 “His super-suit is just next-level,” Elba says. “It’s the ultimate in warfare and in the film you get to see Bloodsport really utilize it, which is pretty exciting. I think people are going love it because it really does transform into everything. I had a lot of fun running around with things that pop out of my arm and my leg and just transform in my hand. It’s a very cool suit.”

At the Zoom press conference, Elba confessed that the suit didn’t fit as well as I suspected. “We did this fitting and I said to James, [this suit] ‘doesn’t fit like it use to’ and he [James Gunn] laughed about that, using it as a base for my character. We played the idea that Bloodsport was been in jail and is not as fit as he use to be, he’s an older dude and he’s still handy.”

Once she had designed the costume, Makovsky worked closely with Legacy Effects to create 3D printouts.

 

Then, once they had a physical costume created in her costume department, her team collaborated with Legacy and the props department for the final product to appear as though the weapons were organic to the suit, and vice versa. The process, which would normally take four months from design to prototype, took six weeks as that was all the time they had.

Makovsky tested several color palettes for the character to create the most menacing version possible. Tests ranged from reds to blacks, but the final color is a very dark blue, with copper metal.

Elba recalls the day on set when the cast first came together in costume. “When we rehearsed, we didn’t see our costumes; we saw images, but when we finally saw each other to shoot, it really did sort of bring it all to life, this jigsaw puzzle of characters coming together in this twisted fantasy film.”

For a sequence in the film requiring a disguise of sorts, Makovsky dressed Elba in a 1980s-style sport coat, complete with a tennis club emblem, paired with a droopy pair of pleated polyester pants and woven sandals, taking inspiration from period photos from Cuba and South America.

Identifying a weapon of choice for Bloodsport would be a feat considering the very suit he wears puts any number—a seemingly endless number—of weapons at his fingertips, each one building on itself at will. He also carries a slingshot that can be transformed into a garrote, which can in turn become a flail. The possibilities are endless.

Makovsky says, “A lot of the design for Bloodsport was based on the action. James was adamant that the costume be practical and not a CG costume. I will say that it was a challenge because trying to figure out what pieces would come out of the costumes and what they would be... Some of the weapons weren’t designed yet at the time we began working, so we literally all worked together to get this costume made. Legacy Effects, who made all the hard bits in the costume, and I would sit together at their computers and design the piece that turns into the gun based on prop’s designs for the actual weapon and then assess how it comes out and what comes off and what is this and so on. They were so wonderful, they worked 24/7 to do this so we could then get it in a 3D printer and then have it actually made. We had many meetings with James, Legacy, props, and myself, drawing on a life-size cutout of Idris, devising every piece of weaponry to correspond with the action."

“We had what I call a typical base of a superhero suit,” she adds. “From there, because of all the action, you’ll see in the film he has a shoulder piece that comes off and can turn into a mace. The two chest pieces, he pulls them out, they turn into guns; they clip into a piece from his belt that becomes the barrel, and another piece like that is a silencer.

He has pieces on his legs that he will grab one from here, one from there, clip them together and it’s another weapon. There’s a sword on his back, a little piece that, when he pulls it out, turns into a large sword. There’s an accelerant on his leg. I mean there’s so much stuff on his costume!” she laughs. “Not only do the pieces come out of the costume, Idris needed to be able to replace some of them on camera, without effort!”

Despite being one of the most inherently brutal Super-Villains on the Force— thanks in large part to his full-body arsenal—Bloodsport has his vulnerable moments, as well as his vulnerabilities, one which induces him to take on Waller’s mission: the welfare of his daughter, Tyla, played in the film by Storm Reid. And he also factors into one of the most comedic pairings, sparring with John Cena’s character, Peacemaker.

“Bloodsport and Peacemaker are both vying for top position as leader, and there’s a little rivalry that goes on, which is quite funny and we play it out in different moments,” Elba says.

 

“Probably one of my favorite moments in the film, ‘cause it’s just crazy, is what they do to try and one-up each other, and it just gets worse and worse. It is the biggest cinematic dick-swinging competition you’ve ever seen and it’s funny as well.”

Warner Bros. Pictures Presents An Atlas Entertainment/A Peter Safran Production, A James Gunn Film, “The Suicide Squad.”

“The Suicide Squad” stars Margot Robbie (“Birds of Prey,” “Bombshell”), Idris Elba (“Avengers: Infinity War”), John Cena (upcoming HBO Max series “Peacemaker,” “F9”), Joel Kinnaman (“Suicide Squad”), Jai Courtney (the “Divergent” franchise), Peter Capaldi (“World War Z,” BBC’s “Doctor Who” ), David Dastmalchian (upcoming “Dune,” “Ant- Man and the Wasp”), Daniela Melchior (“Parque Mayer”), Michael Rooker (the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films), Alice Braga (“Elysium”), Pete Davidson (“The King of Staten Island,” TV’s “Saturday Night Live”), Joaquín Cosio (“Spider-Man: Into the Spider- Verse,” TV’s “Narcos: Mexico”), Juan Diego Botto (“The Europeans”), Storm Reid (“The Invisible Man,” “A Wrinkle in Time”, “Euphoria”), Nathan Fillion (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” TV’s “The Rookie”), Steve Agee (“Brightburn,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”), Sean Gunn (the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films, the “Avengers” films), Mayling Ng (“Wonder Woman”), Flula Borg (“Ralph Breaks the Internet”), Jennifer Holland (“Brightburn,” upcoming HBO Max series “Peacemaker”) and Tinashe Kajese (TV’s “Valor,” “The Inspectors”), with Sylvester Stallone (the “Rocky,” “Rambo” and “Expendables” franchises), and Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Suicide Squad”).

 

Directed by James Gunn (the “Guardian of the Galaxy” films) from his own screenplay, based on characters from DC. The film was produced by Charles Roven and Peter Safran, with Zack Snyder, Deborah Snyder, Walter Hamada, Chantal Nong Vo, Nikolas Korda, and Richard Suckle executive producing.

“The Suicide Squad” is rated R for strong violence and gore, language throughout, some sexual references, drug use, and brief graphic nudity.

It opens nationwide in theaters and IMAX on August 6, 2021, and will be available on HBO Max in UHD, HDR10, Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos on supported devices for 31 days from the theatrical release.

Here is a link to the Zoom press conference for “The Suicide Squad” from writer/director James Gunn, Warner Bros. Pictures’ new superhero action-adventure from the DC world.

www.thesuicidesquad.com

Category: Arts & Culture