Suicide Squad’s Jai Courtney Was Just Joking About Taking Drugs And Self-Harming For The Role

Cast your minds back. All the way back to yesterday, when Suicide Squad‘s Jai Courtney revealed in an interview with Empire Magazine that he, like co-star Jared Leto, engaged in some unorthodox preparations for his role. He wasn’t alone in trying to match Leto’s craziness; director David Ayer apparently made the cast hit each other and amateur skin artist Margot Robbie gave the cast and crew tattoos.

Well, it turns out that Courtney was just having a laugh.

Business Insider caught up with the Aussie actor after his story of taking shrooms and extinguishing lit cigarettes on his skin understandably got everyone’s attention. The story took off, and many sites – us included – ran with it. As it happens though, Courtney was being sarcastic and, as everyone who’s ever tried to be deadpan over text can relate, his efforts failed to translate into print.

Here’s his follow-up response:

“I’ve heard so many versions of that story. It’s just a silly thing when s— gets misconstrued.”

When asked if he was just playing around with the reporter, he said:

“Yeah, I was f—ing around a little. But then that’s me having to learn when to put the brakes on because, when a conversation turns into print, it’s a little harder to grasp the concept.”

Courtney goes on to confirm that most of the batshit stories emanating from the set are likely true. In particular, he praises Ayer for pushing the cast into some hairy situations all in the name of a good performance:

“It’s not like he’s complicating anything with this stuff. It’s fueling. It’s fanning the fire. It’s a really cool way to shake up the usual pattern of preparation for a job.”

Saddling up to join Courtney, Leto and Robbie for the hotly-anticipated flick are Will Smith, Viola Davis Cara Delevingne Ben Affleck, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jay Hernandez and Adam Beach.

Suicide Squad opens August 5.