Jared Leto has big shoes to fill as he follows in the footsteps of Heath Ledger's Clown Prince of Crime, but the Oscar winning actor has clearly given it his all to bring The Joker to life in Suicide Squad. Talking about the pressures which come with such a high profile gig, he recently told Entertainment Weeky that, "You’re kind of walking upon hallowed ground, and it deserves the very best that you can do,” the Oscar winner says. “It takes over your life and that’s what I needed to do for myself."
After meeting with psychiatrists and their patients to get an idea of what makes a sociopath tick, Leto ended up taking things in his own unique direction, embracing the freedom which comes with a role where there are no limits. "You don’t know what the Joker is going to do next; you never do. It was intoxicating to have no rules." Among the rules broken by the actor was how he treated his co-stars.
His bizarre behaviour included sending Margot Robbie a live rat, delivering a dead hog to the entire cast, and wrapping production by giving the cast end of production presents like porn magazines, a switchblade, a dildo, and even a used condom. "The wrap gift was his fun way of getting back at all of us," teases Karen Fukuhara, who plays Katana in Suicide Squad. "I wanted to keep everything."
"As an actor, he’s flinging himself into the abyss on that one," adds director David Ayer. "And he was scary on set. He was intimidating. He’d show up and it was like, ‘Dude, you are f—-ing creepy.’"