‘Suicide Squad’ Cast And Crew Stopped Filming When James Gunn’s Beloved Dog Passed Away

While James Gunn and the rest of the cast and crew have been hard at work on the Suicide Squad reboot, the director announced recently they took a little break to mourn the passing of his best friend. Anyone who has been a dog owner for any length of time knows that eventually they become a part of your family. When a dog passes away, it can be just as painful as if a child dies. When the dog has been a member of the family for over a decade, the pain is even more real.

Gunn can certainly attest to that fact. When his favorite pooch, Wesley, passed away earlier this month, the Suicide Squad and Guardians of the Galaxy director took to social media to talk about his feelings. In an Instagram post remembering his beloved friend, he talked about all the things he was going to miss about having Wesley around the house.

Gunn also said that the cast and crew of the new DC Comics movie were kind enough to take a break and let him grieve for a few days. The director says he shut down production in Panama and flew home to be with Wesley in his final hours. Gunn was able to hold the dog in his arms while he passed away.

In what was a heartfelt goodbye, the famed director wrote about the little things he would remember about Wesley, whose full name was Dr. Wesley Von Spears. He also talked about how the canine was omnipresent when Gunn was traveling around the world, working on different projects.

When the cast and crew get back to shooting, they’ll be trying to improve upon what many fans feel was a poor showing in the original Suicide Squad film. There is, of course, one Suicide Squad character that DC Comics is hoping can bring in audiences, though it hasn’t worked out that way so far.

Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn managed to get her own movie thanks to audiences’ reaction to her character in what was otherwise a movie panned by critics — it got a 40 on Metacritic — but Birds of Prey has gotten the opposite reaction so far. While the newest film has managed to get good reviews, audiences haven’t been flocking to the theater. DC is hoping James Gunn can jump start what it thinks is interesting subject matter in the characters in and around Suicide Squad.