Dirty Dozen was the 1967 action movie that told of a group of Army convicts — the worst of the worst — who are coerced into a mission to take out Nazi officials in a heavily guarded chateau in exchange for their freedom. The film, which starred Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charlies Bronson and Telly Savalas, among a host of others, set the mold for future "bad guys on a suicide mission" films.

The new pic will not replicate the World War II setting of the original but will be a contemporary story, according to insiders.

Ayer has made a career of making dark and gritty movies set in worlds where the characters have nothing to lose as well as the precarious camaraderie that comes with that. The 2012 police drama End of Watch, the 2014 war drama Fury and the aforementioned big-budget action-fests Suicide Squad (basically a superhero version of The Dirty Dozen) and Bright are on his curriculum vitae.

Ayer is repped by WME.