Suicide Squad Actor Joel Kinnaman Throws Shade at Jared Leto's Joker

Joel Kinnaman is hard at work prepping his scenes in The Suicide Squad. Before that premieres in two years, however, Kinnaman will appear in Apple TV's For All Mankind, due out next Friday. During a press stop in support of the show, Kinnaman was asked his thoughts on Joker, and that's when some shade was thrown out at Jared Leto. On the latest episode of The Big Ticket with Marc Malkin, Kinnaman quickly aired his thoughts on Leto's performance as the Clown Prince of Crime before raving about Joaquin Phoenix's takeover.

"No. Who?" Kinnaman said when Malkin asked him about 'cheating' on Leto. "Joaquin just crushed. I mean, wow. He's incredible. He's such an actor. It's surprising to see something have that kind of performance that has a DC wraparound because it's a real art film. I have a sister who's a schizophrenic and I've drawn on some of her behavioral things in some of the things I've done earlier and I was really struck by how accurate his performance was. I think he's really one of the best of all time."

Joker is now the highest-grossing R-rated film to ever hit theaters and is expected to return to the top spot at the box office this weekend after a few off-weeks. Throughout the lead up to the movie's debut, filmmaker Todd Phillips was embroiled in controversy after making certain comments on "woke" culture.

"We didn't make the movie to push buttons," Phillips said during an interview. "I literally described to Joaquin at one point in those three months as like, 'Look at this as a way to sneak a real movie in the studio system under the guise of a comic book film'. It wasn't, 'We want to glorify this behavior.' It was literally like 'Let's make a real movie with a real budget and we'll call it f–ing Joker'. That's what it was."

He later added, "I think it's because outrage is a commodity, I think it's something that has been a commodity for a while. What's outstanding to me in this discourse in this movie is how easily the far left can sound like the far right when it suits their agenda. It's really been eye opening for me."

You can see Phoenix in Joker, out now in theaters.

Upcoming DC Films movies include Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) on February 7, 2020, Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5, 2020, The Batman on June 25, 2021, The Suicide Squad on August 6, 2021, and Aquaman 2 on December 16, 2022.