**UPDATE: **According to Variety, Jake Gyllenhaal has decided to pass on the chance to play Rick Flagg. The casting hunt continues!
David Ayer needs to find someone new for Suicide Squad. Following on from December’s big casting announcement of Tom Hardy, Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie and more for the Warners/DC Comics film, The Hollywood Reporter brings news that Hardy has had to drop out of the film{
According to the trade mag, the reason for Hardy’s departure is timing: Alejandro G. Inarritu’s** The Revenant **is extending its shoot, which will alter the actor’s schedule. Plus there’s the small matter of an extensive press tour for Mad Max: Fury Road, which would clash with Suicide Squad’s planned April shoot date in Toronto.
Hardy had been set to play Rick Flagg, the leader of a group of Batman villains brought together by the government to carry out missions. Smith is on to play Deadshot, Leto will be The Joker, Robbie’s taking the role of Harley Quinn, Jai Courtney is Boomerang and Cara Delevingne will be The Enchantress.
So the job now for Ayer and the studio is to find a replacement. They’re reportedly making offers to Jake Gyllenhaal, who starred for the director in End Of Watch. But he has Broadway theatre commitments until March, which might mean he also doesn’t have the time to take on the film. Whoever ends up as Flagg, the film will be out here on August 5 next year.