Suicide Squad is one of the most anticipated movies scheduled to debut next year. There are several things comic and superhero movie fans are looking forward from this movie, including watching Will Smith play a bad guy, and having Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) on the big screen for the first time. But, possibly the most looked forward to aspect of the movie has already been discussed quite a lot: Jared Leto’s performance as the Joker, which had an unexpected effect on his co-stars.
In an interview with HHB Media, actress Corina Calderon talks about the impact watching Leto’s performance had on her. She said:
Jared Leto as the Joker is just brilliant. I was amazed, absolutely mesmerized. Watching him really gave me this whole new freedom as an actress. I felt ballsy just watching him. An amazing lesson and an amazing teacher, but he didn't even know he was teaching me.
Corina Calderon, whose exact role in Suicide Squad is still a closely guarded secret, echoes some of the previously stated intensity of Jared Leto’s performance and on-set behavior. He gifted his cast members with live rats and bullets, and teased his own crazy filmic acts by announcing that people will want him locked up after seeing it. Will Smith says his co-star went total method actor on the cast, to the point where he didn’t let anyone actually get to know the real him. Poor Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn) was even terrified of the man during filming. With all that going on, it's not hard to believe that many actors on the set saw his dedication just as Calderon did.
What we know about the film, so far, is not a whole lot. Reports from the set and early footage seen at Comic-Con suggest that the Joker will not be a major part, and may actually be in prison for a large portion of the action. Other than that possible Joker-specific tidbit, we know the movie deals with Belle Reve Prison warden Amanda Waller and her enlistment of a crack team of imprisoned super villains for secret government missions. They sign up for the dangerous tasks because of the promise of reduced sentences for all involved.
So, could all this Joker talk be smoke and mirrors? I seriously doubt it. It’s one thing to hype a movie you know might not be all it’s cracked up to be. It is part of an actor’s job to try to make sure their movies make money, after all. But for everyone to go on and on about a specific performance with this kind of effort? It’s highly unlikely we would have heard this much about how Jared Leto came into Suicide Squad, acted his ass off, and then dropped the mic like the badass he clearly is. Might he pull off the same level of performance that Heath Ledger did playing the same part in The Dark Knight? Only time will tell, but we can all place safe bets that watching him try will probably take the film to another level.
Suicide Squad opens on August 5, 2016
