Jared Leto Calls His Suicide Squad Role “Intoxicating”

Jared Leto has got to be pretty anxious right about now. With Suicide Squad getting ready to hit theatres, all eyes are going to be on the actor as he attempts to deliver a performance as The Joker that matches what Heath Ledger did in The Dark Knight.

Of course, seeing as Ledger won a posthumous Oscar for his work, that’s no easy feat. But from the crazy stories that have emerged from the set of the DC Comics adaptation, we know that Leto is doing everything he can to bring us another iconic portrayal of the villain.

In a recent interview with EW, the Dallas Buyers Club star spoke about how he approached such an intimidating role:

“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.”

He also mentioned how it was “intoxicating” to play a character that didn’t come with any rules:

“You don’t know what the Joker is going to do next; you never do. It was intoxicating to have no rules.”

Leto’s erratic behavior on set didn’t go unnoticed, either. Director David Ayer also spoke to EW and told them that the actor was “creepy” and “scary” during the shooting of the film.

“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.’”

This is far from the first time we’re hearing about the extremes Leto went to in order to craft a compelling performance, and we have no doubt that his Clown Prince of Crime will steal the show once the film lands. Whether or not he’ll match up to Ledger or even Jack Nicholson remains to be seen, but thankfully, we don’t have too long to find out.

Suicide Squad hits theatres on August 5th and stars Margot Robbie, Will Smith, Jared Leto, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Joel Kinnaman, Ben Affleck, Cara Delevingne and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje.