It wasn’t so long ago when Jared Leto had his turn at playing the Joker, having scored the role in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad in 2016. At the time, there had been reports that Leto was getting more into character by pulling jokes on his co-stars by way of giving them various gag gifts. This much of the story Leto says is true, but he feels the rest of it has gone off the rails since getting making its way online.
Jared Leto opened up some more on the matter in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly. He insists that the story has been blown out of proportion and that he only had given a few gifts out of “fun” to the others, adding that everyone was all smiles when receiving them. This seems to refer to the rumors that the other actors weren’t happy with Leto’s antics on the set with his method acting for the Joker going a bit too far.
“Any of the very few gifts that were ever given were given with a spirit of fun and adventure and received with laughter, fun, and adventure. It’s all filmed! They filmed it all! People were dying. We were just having a goof. The only gifts I ever gave Margot were cupcakes. I think I gave her a mouse, and some of the other guys got gifts that you’d get as a joke at a party.”
Jared Leto also detailed what it felt like working on Suicide Squad, as he had a “small role” that made him feel like a “quiet nerd in the corner” ostracized from the rest of the group. Perhaps his gag gifts were just meant to share some laughs with the cast to better fit in. The actor also dismisses the criticisms he’s received online from people who weren’t there and has some harsh words for anyone who believes that he crossed the line.
“I’m playing a guy called the Joker, it’s okay to play some jokes. Nothing ever crossed any lines, and it’s not up to other people on the internet to create those lines… I’m an artist at the end of the day. If I do something risky and you don’t like it, basically, you can kiss my ass.”
Back in 2015, Margot Robbie confirmed to Elle that Jared Leto did gift her with a rat while filming Suicide Squad, but that it wasn’t dead, as was the rumor. She ended up keeping the rodent as a pet, using the reasoning that “if Harley got something from the Joker, she’d probably cherish it.” Will Smith also spoke about the gifts in a 2016 interview with E!, suggesting that Leto ended up going “full Joker.”
“Jared has gone full Joker,” Smith said. “He went full Joker. And the rule, generally, is never go full Joker, but he went all in. He really set the tone. He wasn’t playing with it. He was dead serious. He was 100% going into this character, and he really jarred the rest of us.”
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who played Killer Croc in the movie, said he received some “sticky Playboy magazines” from the actor. For his part, Akinnuoye-Agbajge laughed it off, suggesting that Leto’s Joker should have invited Killer Croc to that party. Leto’s new words on the subject come to us from Entertainment Weekly.
Source: movieweb.com