The trailer for James Gunn's The Suidice Squad (2021) promises that there will be rats, and in great volume. In fact, Daniela Melchoir's Cleo "Ratcatcher II" Clazo has the power to communicate with rats, carrying one with her at all times. Though she may mostly be seen bearing one at a time, there are scenes throngs of rats are seen together.
Director James Gunn appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, guest-hosted by Anthony Anderson, with a few stars of The Suicide Squad to promote the upcoming DC Extended Universe film. Gunn was asked about the involvement of rats, including Ratcatcher II's faithful pal, Sebastian, and revealed that there are over 300,000 rats in the movie.
"We have a couple of good actors, we have a rat by the name of Jaws that we worked with a lot," Gunn said. "And then a rat by the name of Crisp Rat, who is named after my friend Chris Pratt. They were our two main active rats that played Sebastian the Rat in the movie. And then we have about 300,000 other rats."
Gunn added that Ratcatcher II is one character at the heart of the movie, compared to the expectation that the show may belong to more popular characters such as Margot Robbie's Harleen "Harley Quinn" Quinzel or Nanaue, otherwise known as "King Shark," who will be voiced by Sylvester Stallone.
"...I just don’t know why Joker would be in the Suicide Squad. He wouldn’t be helpful in that type of war situation," Gunn told The New York Times. "I really wanted to work with Idris [Elba]. It is a multi-protagonist film. We go off for a while with Margot [Robbie], and Daniela [Melchior, who plays Ratcatcher 2] is the heart of the film in a lot of ways. But if there’s one protagonist, it’s Idris. And I wanted somebody who had that gruff, unforgiven-type feeling about him. This guy who had been reduced from being a bigshot supervillain — he took Superman out of the sky — is now scraping gum off the floor at the beginning of the movie. He absolutely doesn’t want any part of it — he just has accepted this is his life. And I just think that character is Idris Elba."
With both rats and a stacked cast eager to make up for Suicide Squad (2016), The Suicide Squad will open in theaters and release on HBO Max on August 6, 2021.