12 Ridiculous Castings That Almost Ruined DC Comic Book Movies
8. Shia Labeouf - Suicide Squad
The Role: GQ Edwards
Who Was Cast Instead: Scott Eastwood
What Happened?
According to the man himself (as revealed in a Variety interview) Labeouf says he was originally in the running to play the character eventually played by Scott Eastwood, which was considerably different at first:
“Then Will [Smith] came in, and the script changed a bit. That character and Tom [Hardy’s] character [later played by Joel Kinnaman] got written down to build Will up. I don’t think Warner Bros. wanted me. I went in to meet, and they were like, ‘Nah, you’re crazy. You’re a good actor, but not this one.’ It was a big investment for them.”
So that's why Scott Eastwood had literally nothing to do, then. Blame Will Smith.
The Results
No matter how you feel about Suicide Squad, there's not a single person in the world who would say that it would have been improved by adding Labeouf. Even though he's proved himself a strong actor (in Fury most memorably), he's too much of a distraction, and he would have been utterly pointless in a mostly non-speaking side-kick role.