‘Suicide Squad’ Star Jai Courtney On Playing Boomerang: ‘I Didn’t Know What I Was In For’

Jai Courtney reveals that he came to his Boomerang role in the live action Suicide Squad film without knowing much of anything about his character. Instead, Courtney was much more excited to be working with director David Ayer. He says he had heard about the Suicide Squad movie even before Ayer made the call to recruit him for the film, but it was still a surprise for Jai to get the call from David. Mr. Courtney reveals that he had accepted that he might be resigned to working on much smaller films until the Suicide Squad director reached out and asked him to come on board.

Suicide Squad Star Jai Courtney Knew Little About Boomerang

Courtney reveals in an interview with Entertainment.ie that, as he didn’t know anything about Boomerang or any of the other Suicide Squad characters, he couldn’t have guessed how big the film would be and adds that, when he was presented the opportunity, there wasn’t even a script. Jai came onto the film project completely in the dark, only knowing that he wanted to work with Ayer. He adds that, as he learned a little bit more about the project, the idea of playing an Australian DC Comics character really appealed to him and he would have been upset, if he’d lost the role to another Aussie.

“In that sense, I’m really grateful for the shot that David gave me, and it turned out to be a project that was hugely surprising,” says the Suicide Squad actor. “I didn’t know what I was in for, and I’m so glad that he took a chance with me because it’s been one of the most amazing filming experiences in my short time as an actor.”

As it turned out, being familiar with the DC Comics source material wasn’t at all necessary, because, as Jai Courtney reveals, Ayer had the actors training for their roles early on, long before production was set to begin. The Suicide Squad actor says a large chunk of that training period consisted of learning martial arts and, while that would better help the actors perform their action sequences, Courtney says it also helped them to get a feel for the film’s tone.

Jai Courtney Sets The Record Straight About Magic Mushrooms

The Boomerang actor was asked by Coming Soon about rumors that he had extinguished cigarettes on his arm and had taken magic mushrooms to help him get into character. The way the question was phrased, Courtney took it to insinuate that the interviewer was implying he had done those things at the behest of the Suicide Squad director. Understandably, Mr. Courtney was quick to correct the misinterpretation. Courtney suggested to the interviewer that the question took events out of context and said that those events didn’t happen quite the way rumors had suggested.

“The thing is, right, like why would I take magic mushrooms and get on a phone call with David Ayer? Obviously that’s not the case,” said the Suicide Squad star. “All I was saying is that I happened at one point to have taken mushrooms, and I was doing a little thinking about my character and just investigating some stuff a little further. David under no circumstances encouraged me to digest, or ingest, anything for that matter. That’s not his style.”

Jai also says David did not tell him to put cigarettes out on his arms — well, not exactly. The two were discussing Boomerang, and Ayer suggested that Jai might better connect with his character by getting “in touch with my inner s**tbag,” because, while there are fantastic and supernatural elements to the film, Ayer’s goal was to keep the characters grounded in reality. Courtney adds that it was important to really become Boomerang, because, if he didn’t feel the character’s heart and soul, neither would Suicide Squad audiences.

“We can create this crazy world but we’ve gotta feel the heart and soul inside of these individuals. Even if it seems like they don’t possess those,” says Jai Courtney.

Suicide Squad opens in theaters on August 5.

[Image by Warner Bros.]