Jared Leto is an Oscar-winning multihyphenate that has had a long and successful career. Despite his resume, one of the most infamous roles he’s yet to play is Joker in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad. While that ill-fated blockbuster was in production there were a ton of reports about Leto giving strange gifts to his co-stars. Now he’s broken his silence on those Suicide Squad gifts, including those Margot Robbie rat rumors.
David Ayer’s Suicide Squad was a highly anticipated project ahead of its release, thanks to a stellar cast and that first trailer. During production there were a number of wild reports about Jared Leto’s behavior on set, and the gross/ strange gifts he gave to various cast members including Margot Robbie. Leto was recently asked about these reports, saying:
Any of the very few gifts that were ever given were given with a spirit of fun and adventure and received with laughter, fun, and adventure. It's all filmed! They filmed it all! People were dying. We were just having a goof.
Well, there you have it. Despite some serious reports, it seems that Jared Leto didn’t take his antics on the set of Suicide Squad too seriously. What’s more, he even maintains that many of these occurrences were filmed-- presumably by the folks at Warner Bros. But the studio declined to comment when asked by the outlet for a follow-up.
Jared Leto’s comments to EW mark the first time that he’s spoken at length about those Suicide Squad gifts. At the time, there were reports about him offering gifts such as bullets, used condoms, and a dead pig. But according to the Dallas Buyers Club actor, all of these exchanges were just light fun shared between the cast.
Later in that same interview, Jared Leto went into further details about his memory of Suicide Squad’s production. Margot Robbie revealed in 2015 that she was given a rodent by her co-star, and kept it in hopes of honoring how Harley Quinn might have reacted. Leto gave his own recollection of that moment, saying:
The only gifts I ever gave Margot were cupcakes. I think I gave her a mouse, and some of the other guys got gifts that you'd get as a joke at a party.
Once again Jared Leto proved what a unique POV he brings into the world, as well as his professional life. While gifting someone a mouse isn’t something most of us would forget, Jared Leto isn’t quite sure. Instead he remembers gifting his Suicide Squad scene partner with cupcakes and some lowkey gag gifts.
The various wild stories that came from Suicide Squad’s set surrounding Jared Leto definitely helped to hype up David Ayer’s movie. Unfortunately, much of Leto’s performance as Joker was left on the cutting room floor of the theatrical cut. He spoke about his artistic expression in relation to those infamous gifts, saying:
I'm playing a guy called the Joker, it's okay to play some jokes. Nothing ever crossed any lines, and it's not up to other people on the internet to create those lines. I'm an artist at the end of the day. If I do something risky and you don't like it, basically, you can kiss my ass.
He certainly didn’t mince his words. It seems Jared Leto simply doesn’t care about what the public might have thought about his reported behavior on the set of Suicide Squad. He was focused on becoming Joker, an effort that unfortunately didn’t seem to pay off in the theatrical cut. It’s likely for this reason that some fans have been hoping David Ayer would release a director’s cut of the 2017 blockbuster.
While Jared Leto’s future as Joker remains a mystery, he was recently able to briefly reprise his role in Zack Sndyer’s Justice League. Leto was one of just a handful of actors that participated in reshoots, allowing the new Knightmare sequence to come together. This also allowed Leto to appear opposite Ben Affleck’s Batman, something that unfortunately might not happen again.
The next DC movie heading to theaters is The Batman on March 4th, 2022. In the meantime, check out the 2021 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
