James Gunn Details How He Shot Idris Elba’s Most Badass Suicide Squad Moment and It Sounds Absolutely Painful
Idris Elba may be renowned for his exceptionally good action-hero roles in projects like the Luther TV series and Hijack (2023), but some of his most badass moments still rest with his performance in The Suicide Squad as Bloodsport.
But making his performance critical commendation worthy wasn’t the easiest of tasks; neither for Elba himself nor for the helmer of the 2021 action comedy masterpiece (and one of DC’s co-CEOs), James Gunn.
Recently, Gunn got around to sharing insights into those moments — that are undeniably considered some of Idris Elba’s most badass moments — where Bloodsport has to use nanotechnology in The Suicide Squad. And the way he explained it has made one thing clear: Shooting those particular scenes was nothing short of painful in real life.
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Idris Elba’s Iconic Moments In The Suicide Squad Weren’t Made Without Much Trouble
Some of the most amazing moments in 2021’s The Suicide Squad saw Idris Elba‘s character Bloodsport physically take off pieces from his suit to construct incredibly badass weapons that he uses in the most astute ways in the movie.
What made this all the more interesting was the fact that Robert DuBois didn’t hold an infinite supply of those pieces and that once he had used them, they were gone once and for all; meaning that even though he was formidable with them, he could run out of the pieces as well.
Thus, even though the movie went ahead to become a massive commercial failure, bringing in only $168.7 million on its budget of $185 million (via Box Office Mojo), these scenes of Idris Elba still rank as some of the fans’ favorite-est moments from the entire DCU.
In fact, they love it so much that even after almost three years since the film’s release, they can’t stop talking about it. Just like recently, when @mr.moviemafia on Threads pointed out how “creative and visually interesting” and “easily [their] favorite use of nanotechnology in any comic book film” those scenes were.
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To this, James Gunn took the honor to respond and explain in detail how exactly they constructed all those scenes and the suit, and how much attention they had to pay to every single piece to carry out the moments as perfectly as possible. He wrote:
“God it was complicated putting that together. Each piece on the costume had a reason for being in the story until they run out in the end. We had to worry about which side everything was on according to the storyboards. And all the props had to fit into the costume design. So it was a constant discussion & balance between costume design (Judianna), props (Drew) & story & shots (me).”
Thus, as badass as it all looked in the movie, it was equally badass and painful (if not more) for the creators to draft the scene and make it look as immaculate and spectacular as ever. Then there was Idris Elba’s uncomparable performance that is yet to be surpassed by others as well!
Fans React to James Gunn’s Stunning Revelation about Idris Elba’s Bloodsport Scenes
Thanks to James Gunn’s detailing of how Idris Elba’s most badass moments in The Suicide Squad were created, and in turn, reminding fans just how awesome the movie was in the first place, fans are now reminiscing the movie and the character Bloodsport in it.
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Commending the tremendous efforts all of them put into the movie, here’s how they’re reacting to this revelation on X:
I need Bloodsport in the DCU asap he’s one of my favorite dc characters now
— Alex (@MyNameIsAlex107) February 5, 2024
He's so cool
— freddy fazbear#BABYJ (@its_nathanVAL) February 4, 2024
this shows gunn’s dedication
— Bob david (@SavetheKND) February 4, 2024
Love the effort that went into it!
— Reza (@Reza_shuaib) February 5, 2024
This movie flopping was so unfair.
So much care went into it and it's a damn good movie.— Kendall. 🏴☠️ (@jnicholsonfl) February 4, 2024
TSS being soft rebooted into the DCU MEANS THAT out the gate, Nano Tech exists in the universe already
— 𝕽 𝖊 𝖛 𝖊 𝖗 𝖘 𝖊⚡️🎃 𝕲 𝖔 𝖇 𝖑 𝖎 𝖓 (@ReverseGoblin) February 4, 2024
Well, for one thing, James Gunn needs to bring Bloodsport back into the DC Universe in his reboot of the saga, and for another, recasting Idris Elba as Robert DuBois wouldn’t be such a bad idea, considering how the actor himself shared that he “love(s) playing Bloodsport” (via ComicBook.com).
As for The Suicide Squad, you can stream it on Netflix.
