My turn …

I don’t know what quit is. I am not who you think I am. Nothing in my life was handed to me it’s been a struggle from the jump. My pops committed suicide Christmas morning when I was 4 in Miami. And that was just the beginning. Foster care. Abuse.

Disruption. Chaos. I went to more schools than I can count. What’s stability?

I was in South LA doing hoodrat shit as a kid. Got arrested. LA County probation forever – Had to take the bus to Crenshaw and Exposition to see the Gang Lady twice a month. But that didn’t stop me from doing a lot of stupid and dangerous shit. I was the kid everyone just knew was going to end up dead or in prison. And I was in the right Hood for it.

I’ve seen bodies, blood, heads busted open, watched people die. Stepped over brains on the sidewalk to catch my bus. Been shot at more times than I can remember. Got my ass beat by LAPD (batons yo). One of the first crackhouses in LA was on my block (Rolling 20’s Hood). I dropped out of High School and was every day in the streets holding a wall up on a bodega. Took someone dying in my arms covered in their blood and vomit to wake me up.

So I joined the Navy and served on a nuclear submarine. And I saw more. And experienced things that seared my soul. Try 67 days underwater in a steel tube when you’re running out of food. The Navy broke me. And the Navy saved me. (I learned discipline and the Navy gave me a work ethic).

I lived in Sinaloa, Baja Califas, bounced back and forth. Worked any job I could after that. Housepainting. Construction. Electrician.

I started writing screenplays because someone saw something in me I didn’t (Wesley Strick thank you saved my life).

I wrote and I wrote. And I got sucked back into the streets. Smoking PCP and cruising in my Olds Cutlass. I didn’t have a refridgerator, I didn’t have a bed. I had nothing, didn’t file tax returns for seven years. I had no future. And I figured I was just burning time until I caught a case and got locked up.

That’s where Training Day came from. I saw it happen. I heard all the neighborhood stories. I wrote them down. I poured my soul on the page. And when someone offered me 30K for the rights I laughed.

But Training Day was special. Of course no one believed it at the time. The nice Hollywood folks refused to believe cops could be that corrupt.

Then the Rampart Scandal happened and yeah they realized maybe it’s real. Took years to get that movie made and it changed my life. The lesson of that script – put your pain on the page. That is why I tell stories, I’ve seen life I’ve seen people. I’ve seen the the bad do good and the good do bad. I write about my lived truth. And I take the risk – Like putting my house on the line to direct my first movie.

I put my life into Suicide Squad. I made something amazing – My cut is intricate and emotional journey with some “bad people” who are shit on and discarded (a theme that resonates in my soul). The studio cut is not my movie. Read that again.

And my cut is not the 10 week director’s cut – It’s a fully mature edit by Lee Smith standing on the incredibly work by John Gilroy. It’s all Steven Price’s brilliant score, with not a single radio song in the whole thing.

It has traditional character arcs, amazing performances, a solid 3rd Act resolution. A handful of people have seen it. If someone says they have seen it, they haven’t.

So yeah, should be clear by now I don’t have any quit in me. Never have. And why should I? Every day breathing is a gift. I though my story was going to end in a grave or a cell long ago. So these I’m living are bonus rounds. I’m so honored and blessed to have the career I do. Quit? After my kids watched me come home every day after the studio takeover of the edit with my heart torn out? Who would I be to them if I quit?

I’ve never told my side of the story and I never will. Why? Same reason no one will ever know what happened on my submarine. I keep my covenents. I’m old school like that. So I kept my mouth shut and took the tsunami of sometimes shockingly personal criticism. Why? That’s what I’ve done my whole life. Real talk I’d rather get shot at.

I’m so proud of James and excited for the success that’s coming. I support WB and am thrilled the franchise is getting the legs it needs. I’m rooting for everyone, the cast, the crew. Every movie is a miracle. And Jame’s brilliant work will be the miracles of miracles. I appreciate your patience. I will no longer speak publicly on this matter.