Hollywood has been called a dream factory many times, but for David Ayer landing the job of screenwriter and director of Suicide Squad, the next big DC Comics extravaganza that Warner Brothers will open in theaters across the country this Friday, was "a dream come true. I never expected it."  After the acclaim of Fury, an intense World War 2 drama, and the gritty violence of End of Watch and Sabotage, Warner Brothers tapped the filmmaker to bring a comic book that focuses on DC's  biggest and most memorable bad guys.

"I never expected it," stated the the director during an interview via phone with Entertainment Affair. "Look, I grew up in south LA, I was a high school dropout, later I was in the military and later I payed my bills as a construction worker. So I never went to college and never went to film school. I feel blessed to be in this position. And this is in a way beyond my wildest dreams. It's an honor to work with Warner Brothers and be trusted with such an important film."

The film became even more important to the studio when the release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice did not meet box office and critical expectations, something that happened while Ayer was still working on his dream project. As if on cue,  industry publications and social media became inundated with reports that some reshoots for the movie were indication of trouble or the studio taking away the reign from the filmmaker to cater fan boy expectations. During our conversation, Ayer clearly states that this was not the case. "Warner Brothers told me a long time ago go make your movie. And as we made it and people starting responding to it, we all collectively rolled up our sleeve to see how we could make what we had better. As a director on every project you have to ask yourself if you are willing to do that. You can never quit or give up on your movie. For me it was like taking the SATS somebody had to say stop and take the pencil away. If it were up to me I'd still be working on it. But I'm so proud of where the movie got to and what you see on screen is my voice and my soul. There really is nothing like it out there."

The passion and the extremely high expectations of DC comic fans was another challenge that the director welcomed with open arms. "Up until now I've made movies that nobody cared about," said Ayer while chuckling. "And that has been part of the fun having the world watching us and fans paying attention. I am a fan myself and I've listened to the fans. So I understand their anticipation, passion and their worries. I can't wait to see Wonder Woman, but I also can't wait to see Aquaman and Flash (in their individual film). These are all characters that I grew up with and are the crown jewels of the DC Universe.  I'm also very excited to see Ben Affleck's stand alone Batman movie. Which won't be an origin story. It's not going to be like any other Batman movie that's been out there. I can't wait."

Ayer knows something or two about where Batman is headed on screen given that he has a brief but substantial appearance in Suicide Squad. Something that the filmmaker insists that was not dictated by the studios ambition to create a Marvel like universe on screen. "Batman was always in the movie, he was always part of the story I wanted to tell  and the movie I wanted to make," said Ayer brushing aside any speculation about studio tampering. "It was like having a great sandbox to play with and having great assets to do so. The only rule I had was that I had to treat the source material with respect. So in that sense I really had my pick of the best menu ever. I could order absolutely anything off that menu. Even so you have to make sure that whatever easter eggs you have on your films have to line up correctly with all the other capital ships that are being built. The fun of this was realizing how many details I managed to get in this film."

But Suicide Squad is much more than clues for the next DCU slate of  films, the movie marks the debut of several characters that have been extremely popular in the comics. One example, in a movie filled with truly exciting and memorable bad guys, is Harley Quinn, a character that debuted in the 90's Batman animated series to a popular acclaimed that made the jump to the storyline in the comics. For Ayer finding the right actress to play her was a no brainer. "What Margot Robbie has done with this character is incredible because she makes it look so easy to play her." Getting the right version of the character was a different story.  "You have to build each character and the characters always star on the script page. It starts with the writing," explains Ayer who is the sole credited screenwriter of Suicide Squad, something unusual in a big comic book movie with a summer release  "If you look at each of these characters in the comic there is a spectrum you can choose from, Harley in particular. There are a lot of versions of her in the comics. So what we did was to really research it. Margot and I read everything she could about her and then went and met with psychiatrist. She visited hospitals to observe and try to find out more about mental illness. Which all leads to key events in the character's life. She comes from a broken home.  But it's a very challenging role and a lot of work for an actor to make it seem so seamless.  I think she did an incredible job."

The big screen debut of Harley Quinn is tied to a new reinvention of the big bad in Batman lore: The Joker. Ever since the film went into production, the stories surrounding Jared Leto's take on the role have focused on the madness and the pranks of his method actor ways.  As a filmmaker, Ayer got to see past that and fully appreciate Leto's process as an artist. "Jared came on very early to the project and I think it's a brave thing he did to tackle  such a well known character and one that has been portrayed so amazingly well in other movies. To me he really delivered his soul into that role which elevated my respect for him as a performer."

Ayer admits that the actor's method had more of an effect on the rest of the cast than on him. "In private we have to talk as director and actor, to plan the work. So on set I did talk to him like the Joker and call him Mr. J. And it wasn't a difficult thing for me because when he's in that make up and that wardrobe, he was very intimidating. Very intimidating.  You could feel it with the other cast members. They always got very quiet when he was around.  That was very interesting because they never shut up for me." In turn the director admits to being speechless and intimidated by having to direct Ben Affleck as the cape crusader. "I got intimidated in those scenes by many reasons, but mainly because I have Batman right in front of me in my set. And the second big reason is that he's played by Ben Affleck who is a fantastic actor but an award winning director in his own right. But Ben is very gracious and he is somehow able to separate being an actor and a director. I never met Affleck the director, I only worked with Ben the actor who was very committed to his role in this projects."

Even with Batman, a new Joker and getting to create Harley Quinn on screen, Ayer was able to make another dream come true in having Jay Hernandez play El Diablo, a metahuman of Mexican descent who can launch fire out of his extremities. "My wife is latino and so are my kids. And having Diablo in the movie was a way of getting that group represented. Which doesn't always happen on screen and specially in this type of movie. But I liked that I was able to give that sort of representation to more than one group. I'm very proud of the diversity in our cast and how its part of what makes this movie different."

With his ideal version of the Suicide Squad assembled, Ayer had one more wish for to ask the studio that was giving him his very first comic book movie: to shoot it on film. "I'm very biased towards shooting on film. You know, film is an analog process. Kinda like the difference between a vinyl record and an mp3. Film gives you more variables that you can control. And on this one we had a brilliant cinematographer (Roman Vasyanov) who has this instinctual, love and understanding on how to light a set and expose film. When you combine that cocktail you get amazing imagery. There's no way  you could get the beauty that we got in this film from a digital camera. This whole thing has been a dream come true."

See Suicide Squad in theaters August 5th.