Suicide Squad feels very, very real now, perhaps even more real than the film that will come before it: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. We haven't seen a trailer for the film yet, but thanks to frequent Twitter updates from director David Ayer, we know what each of the main characters looks like, including Jared Leto's tattoo-covered Joker, and while Zack Snyder is still shrouding much of his film in mystery, Ayer has so far been more than happy to talk about what he's after on the set.

The film is shooting in Toronto this week, and rather than keep everything on a tightly closed-off soundstage, Ayer and his cast took to the streets for a night shoot, giving fans and photo hunters plenty of opportunities to see the entire cast in action. Canada's Entertainment City was granted rare access directly to the set, and the resulting report is a must-see combination of images of the cast in action and an interview with Ayer.

When talking about the kind of film he wanted to make, Ayer first noted that he really wanted to bring the film out into the streets to shoot, where real people could see, in part because he wants to encourage more realism in the performances in his cast. As for the dynamic he hopes to bring from the entire cast working together, he threw out one word that really sticks: "family."

"I'm all about real drama, real performance, and real people, so my twist on this is...it’s...I'm creating a family, I’m creating a brotherhood, here," Ayer said. "I'm creating a very real chemistry and I have this incredible ensemble of actors led by Will Smith, who are basically playing dimensional characters with lives and souls."

The word "family" might seem a little weird when applied to the basic concept of Suicide Squad -- a gang of bad guys coerced into doing government work -- but, in a dysfunctional way, it does make sense. These are people united by something, and in their own, twisted ways they could form some very clear bonds and make this a very cohesive team movie. We saw shades of that in James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy, and Ayer could provide us with another take on that version of team-building.

Check out the set video, and Ayer's interview below:

Suicide Squad hits theaters Aug. 5, 2016.

(Via Breakfast Television)