14 DAY TRIAL // Tom Hardy may have dropped out of DC Comics’ “Suicide Squad,” but the cast is still looking very promising and people are eager to see it on the big screen. For one thing, Oscar-winning actor Jared Leto will be playing The Joker, in what is the first take on this iconic villain since Heath Legder’s superb (and also Oscar-winning) performance in “The Dark Knight.”
Since the casting announcement, Leto has been keeping relatively quiet, but then again, it’s not like he was ever the kind of guy who toots his own horn or over-shares details of an ongoing production. In fact, he hardly ever does interviews until the moment he’s contractually bound to do so.
Billboard magazine caught up with him just recently and managed to obtain 2 pieces of information from him: number 1, he’s trying to gain weight, a “lot” of it. Apparently, he’s on a strict diet meant to put more meat on him, so he has to force himself to eat every couple of hours.
Number 2, Leto is very excited about this project, which is something you don’t get to hear that often from him. The one thing about Leto that fans love more than his versatility is his patience in choosing his next project: unlike many other actors, he’s in no rush to strike the iron while it’s hot and will wait until the right movie comes along, even if that means going without an acting job for more than a couple of years.
“The opportunity to take on this nearly Shakespearean character - that’s what graphic novels and comic books are becoming, right?” Leto says. “[He’s] this beautiful disaster of a character - what a big challenge.”
“Suicide Squad” (2016) is the story of a group of villains from the comics, released from prison and tasked by the government with fighting crime. They’re led by Rick Flagg, who should have been played by Hardy; rumor has it the role might go to Jake Gyllenhaal now.