It looks like Tom Hardy won't have the chance to play a second DC Comics villain after all -- a new report has Hardy stepping down from his role as Rick Flagg in Suicide Squad due to scheduling conflicts.
TheWrap reports Hardy is leaving the project because his work on on Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's The Revenant is going over schedule and into mid-March, at which point Hardy will then be called upon to promote WB's Mad Max: Fury Road. That doesn't leave much time for Suicide Squad, which is scheduled for an Aug. 15, 2016 release.
So who will step in to fill Hardy's shoes? Possibly Jake Gyllenhaal. TheWrap is citing sources familiar with the project in saying Gyllenhaal, who previously worked with Suicide Squad director David Ayer on End of Watch, is the lead candidate for filling the role. Gyllenhaal and Warner Bros. have yet to comment on the situation.
It's not the first time Gyllenhaal has had his name tossed in the hat for a comic book role. He was previously said to have been courted for the title role in Marvel's upcoming Doctor Strange. That honor eventually went to Benedict Cumberbatch.
Suicide Squad will star (as long as there are no more mix-ups) Will Smith as Deadshot, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, Cara Delevigne as Enchantress and Jared Leto as The Joker. Rumor has it that Jesse Eisenberg, who will be playing Lex Luthor in Zack Snyder's upcoming Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, will also appear in the film as the same character.
We still don't know too much about the plot, but rumors suggest the Joker will, unsurprisingly, star as the main villain in a plot that might have him placing bombs all around a city. It will be up to the Suicide Squad, employed by the government, to learn how the Joker thinks and disarm them.
Or that could be completely bogus! Who knows what the final story of the film will be, but Jake Gyllenhaal finally entering the world of comic book movies should make for an interesting spectacle.
