To say that much digital ink has been spilled regarding Jared Leto’s take on the Joker would be something of an understatement. It’s often the topic of discussion when the actor hosts an interview and, in many ways, underpins Warner’s marketing for the release of Suicide Squad.
All throughout production, Leto’s method acting continued to perplex, as the line between the Oscar-winner and Clown Prince of Crime became harder to define. As a matter of fact, only a few days ago a new report revealed that the actor shipped anal beads and used condoms to his co-stars, as he embraced the infamous madness that serves as the Joker’s life blood.
It’s a role that Leto holds up as “intoxicating” during a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, where the actor revealed the way in which Suicide Squad afforded him the opportunity to challenge himself and everyone around him “in a really unique way.”
“He became a real person. I don’t know if person is the right word. I think the Joker lives in between reality and another plane. Kind of a shaman in a way. It’s a very intoxicating role to take on. You have permission to break rules and to challenge yourself and anyone around you in a really unique way.”
To do so, Jared Leto began by circling back to the source material, educating himself in the nuances of DC’s greatest villain.
“I first started at the beginning, educating myself, researching, reading as much as I could, going back to the source material. And then at a certain point, I knew I had to stop doing that. Because the Joker has been redefined, reinvented many times before. I think the fun thing about it is when people have done it in the past, there is some spirit of the Joker essence that they keep, but they either build upon something or tear something down and start again at the beginning. For me, I knew once I had gone through the process of educating myself, I had to throw everything away and start from the beginning and really build this from the ground up. It was a transformative process. There was a physical transformation. There was a physical conditioning.”
David Ayer and Suicide Squad will unleash the Joker – along with the members of Task Force X – come August 5.
