His movies are always filled with complex, often morally ambiguous characters characters that feel real.
Ive always dabbled in the murky moral worlds in my filmmaking, he says.
Im fascinated by [the questions], what is a bad guy?
Credit: Michael Tran/FilmMagic
What is a criminal?
What is a good guy?
And what separates them?
This hits the bulls-eye.
Its like building a little cult and then the next victim arrives, he jokes.
Will Smith knew about Ayers methods it wasone of the reasons he signed onfor the part.
They were technically rehearsals, but not really.
What we didnt realize was what he does in the process is he learns our buttons.
That may sound malicious but Ayer says he loves actors and considers midwifing performances his greatest honor.
Acting is very lonely, he adds.
I dont think people realize how much these people live out of suitcases and just show up.
I think trust drives performance.
The cast is now very close.
But getting there was uncomfortable.
It was a pretty vulnerable place to go, says Margot Robbie, who plays Harley Quinn.
And then you have to share that with the rest of your squad as well.
I really didnt like that.
Ayer, though, is okay mining actors pasts for performance.
It cant be [comfortable.]
Youve got to open up, he says.
Actors are super cagey.
[My approach is more], No, No.
Lets burn through the tool box now and start making some new tools.
