‘Suicide Squad’ Loses Tom Hardy

Let this bit of news brought to us today from The Hollywood Reporter serve as confirmation that the man who brought one of the baddest bad guys that Batman has ever faced to life in 2012's The Dark Knight Rises, Tom Hardy, has dropped out of the upcoming Suicide Squad film, due to scheduling issues. Hardy was set to play Rick Flagg, the leader of a group consisting of other villains from Batman's rogues gallery, which include Deadshot, Joker, Harley Quinn, Boomerang and Enchantress. Warner Bros. has reportedly made little more than suggestions that Jake Gyllenhaal, back at the fore from his recent performance in last year's Nightcrawler, could be replacing Hardy, though there has been no official word on that front. Hardy is a busy man these days currently shooting The Revenant with Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, a director who's on everyone's hot list after Birdman's success and Michael Keaton's subsequent Golden Globes win. Hardy is also in the middle of the new Mad Max film. Busy man indeed. Gyllenhaal himself is currently tied up in his own work on Broadway with a play Constellations so it remains unclear at this point whether he will be able to accept an offer to replace Hardy. Time will tell. Suicide Squad is currently set to open August 5, 2016.