Jared Leto has immersed himself in the demented character of The Joker for David Ayer’s Suicide Squad. It’s more than just the face paint and the emo tattoos. It’s a plunge into Method acting that apparently includes sending bizarre gifts to his co-stars… as only Joker would do.
Adam Beach, who plays Slipknot in Ayer’s super-villain team-up movie, talked to E! Online at the premiere of Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser, and told incredibly strange stories about Jared Leto’s, er, "presents" for his co-stars. These gifts included bullets for Will Smith, and a love letter for Margot Robbie that came with a black box and a live rat. Beach explained that Leto also made a video for the entire cast that included a dead hog. He said:
Basically, what he said was, 'Guys, I can't be there but I want you to know I'm doing my work as hard as you guys. The video he showed is in character. It blew our minds away. Then we realized that day, this is real. … He encompasses this beautiful man and he shows it in, 'Hello, how are you?' But in an instant, he goes to psychotic behavior where you're in fear. But you love him because he has both of those genuine sides."
There have been multiple actors who have attempted to play the Joker on screen in a Batman project, from Jack Nicholson to the late Heath Ledger. But we never really heard of those actors staying deeply in character in between takes. Ledger, in particular, has been celebrated by cast and crew on The Dark Knight for the light mood that he maintained on set. Leto, though, is taking the opposite approach. Will it work out? We’ll find out soon enough.
David Ayer’s Suicide Squad bands a group of DC Comics villains together on a mysterious mission under the care of Amanda Weller (Viola Davis). The team includes such lunatics as Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Deadshot (Will Smith), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman) and Enchantress (Cara Delevingne), to name just a few. It also will star Ben Affleck’s The Batman, from what we have seen in on-set photos and videos, like this one.
Suicide Squad will be the second DC movie to hit next year, following Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It opens everywhere on August 5, 2016.
