The early reviews of Suicide Squad lambasted the third film in the DC Extended Universe for being a chaotic, almost incoherent mess. A new report by The Hollywood Reporter claims that much of it can be traced to Warner Brothers‘ panicked reaction to the poor critical and fan reception of Batman v Superman.

THR’s extensive report cites a number of factors contributing to the theatrical release’s poor reviews, which include troubles in production, rushing to meet its August 2016 release date, and concern regarding director David Ayer’s capacity to deliver an effects-packed summer blockbuster. However, the report is sourced from unnamed Warner Brothers executives and insiders, so take it with a grain of salt.

Anxiety over Ayer’s approach to the film apparently worsened after Warner Brothers was surprised by the terrible reception Batman v Superman received earlier this year. As the studio’s third attempt at getting fans onboard the DCEU train, the pressure on Suicide Squad to impress audiences is immense:

A source with knowledge of events says Warners executives, nervous from the start, grew more anxious after they were blindsided and deeply rattled by the tepid response to BvS. “Kevin was really pissed about damage to the brand,” says one executive close to the studio. A key concern for Warners executives was that Suicide Squad didn’t deliver on the fun, edgy tone promised in the strong teaser trailer for the film. So while Ayer pursued his original vision, Warners set about working on a different cut, with an assist from Trailer Park, the company that had made the teaser.

The two rival cuts, Ayer’s original dark take and an action romp delivering on the teaser trailer’s promise, were then screened to test audiences until a compromise fusing the two was eventually found. However, it “required millions of dollars’ worth of additional photography”, which was earlier reported to “add humor” to the film.

With multiple editors having been brought in for the movie, this could explain why numerous reviews have pointed out how Suicide Squad feels like two films strung together. However, Ayer maintains that no alternate cuts exist, and that the theatrical release is firmly his.

In an interview with Collider, he confirms that over ten minutes of deleted scenes will be heading to the Blu-ray release, before adding:

But this cut of the movie is my cut, there's no sort of parallel universe version of the movie, the released movie is my cut. And that's one of the toughest things about writing, shooting, and directing a film, is you end up with these orphans and you fucking love them and you think they'd be amazing scenes and do these amazing things but the film is a dictatorship (laughs), not a democracy, and just because something's cool and charismatic doesn't mean it gets to survive in the final cut. The flow of the movie is the highest master.

Ayer then discusses the intricacies of film editing and people’s misconceptions regarding it:

I think there's a misunderstanding about filmmaking where you can somehow have this crystal ball and understand exactly how everything is going to work together and assemble together. Because remember scripts type words on a page, a black and white page, and when you're on set you're dealing with shots and you're dealing with dailies, and so you have this 7-minute shot and maybe only 10 seconds of that shot is gonna end up in the movie. There's infinite combinations, infinite knock-on effects, and it's this strange alchemy that happens and things that you thought during the writing phase breaking your back trying to explain and needs three pages to explain it, you realize it works with just a look on camera in the assembly.

With the film finally in theaters, we’ll have to see whether fans agree with critic reviews of Suicide Squad and whether it would still be a hit despite that.