Much has been made of Jared Leto’s seemingly relentless commitment to portraying Joker in this year’s Suicide Squad – but what of his equally deranged partner-in-crime, Harley Quinn?
Donning the pigtails as the famed DC anti-hero is Margot Robbie, and the actress recently outlined her own preparation for the part during an interview with Coming Soon. There, Robbie noted that she “did a lot of research on mental illness and codependency,” to capture the essence of one Dr. Harleen Frances Quinzel.
Of course, Leto’s Clown Prince of Crime is as much responsible for Harley Quinn’s insanity as anyone else, with the recent Suicide Squad trailers hinting that David Ayer’s feature will stick close to the established origins story – Girl meets nutjob. Nutjob turns girl into fellow nutjob.
“I did a lot of research on mental illness and codependency,” she says. “I was trying to access a way in to understanding why she’s so in love with the Joker. I kind of decided that she’s codependent on him. Now that I’ve done the research, I realize that that’s more of an addiction than an illness… You see many sides of her. Sometimes she’s really funny. Sometimes she’s really mean. She just enjoys everything she does. Whether she’s doing something good or bad, she’ll have an equal amount of enjoyment out of it. She’s not always the most likeable character.”
Bouncing off this, Jared Leto also addressed the topic of whether we’ll see a Joker origins story in Suicide Squad. Unsurprisingly, the actor remained mum on the specifics.
“I don’t think I’m allowed to talk about that so much,” Leto said with a smile, “But we walked in a completely new direction. I think we knew that we had to do that. It was important to do that. When the Joker has been done and done so well, it gives you a bit of an indication of where you shouldn’t go. There’s a bit of a map there. That’s the good part about it.”
Suicide Squad assembles Task Force X in all of their villainous glory come August 5.
