14 DAY TRIAL // Jared Leto has some very large shoes to fill with his next role: he plays famous Batman villain The Joker in David Ayer’s “Suicide Squad,” a role previously played by the late Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight.” That was only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the challenges of the role, Leto tells Empire magazine.
The current issue of the mag is dedicated to Warner Bros. much hyped all-villain movie, which comes out in the summer of 2016. It will be the third release from the studio’s Justice League franchise, which is meant as a direct rival to Marvel’s Avengers universe.
In other words, there is a lot riding on “Suicide Squad,” so it simply has to be successful.
Jared Leto lived as The Joker for months
Jared Leto is proud of being a Method actor. He would tell the press that he lived as a transvestite during production on “Dallas Buyers Club,” which earned him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, just to see how people would react to him.
So no wonder that he spent the entire production of “Suicide Squad” as The Joker: he didn’t take part in crew meetings or get-togethers, he didn’t interact with anyone in between takes (Will Smith said that he never met Leto the man, only The Joker), and he would often send his co-stars gifts that The Joker would send.
He tells Empire that he was also picking the photo like the famous villain, often shouting “[Expletive] you!” into the receiver before hanging out. The Joker doesn’t do phones, anyone would know that.
Playing The Joker was no walk in the park
While all this sounds like a lot of fun, it wasn’t always that, Leto continues. What makes The Joker such a memorable villain isn’t just the fact that he’s crazy, but also that he’s deep and deeply tormented.
This meant that getting to know such a character and to bring him to life on the big screen wasn’t exactly easy.
“There was definitely a period of… detachment. I took a pretty deep dive,” Leto says. “But this was a unique opportunity and I couldn’t imagine doing it another way. It was fun, playing those psychological games. But at the same time it was very painful, like giving birth.[…] If you don’t break rules, you’re not going to strike new ground. I think I’ll be cooling down for the rest of my life.”
“Suicide Squad” also stars Margot Robbie, Cara Delevingne, Scott Eastwood, Viola Davis, Ben Affleck, Jai Courtney and Joel Kinnaman, and is directed by David Ayer. It will be out in theaters worldwide in August 2016.
Time for a little thereapy @MargotRobbie @JaredLeto #skwad pic.twitter.com/u1AgFod8K4
— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) October 26, 2015
She's making her own rules. #Enchantress @Caradelevingne @empiremagazine @wbpictures #skw pic.twitter.com/buaJh1meXL
— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) October 27, 2015
