David Ayer Praises Jared Leto’s Joker

For a long time after Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) came out, some people doubted that anyone would top Jack Nicholson’s performance as The Joker. Then along came, Heath Ledger, whose brilliant performance as The Clown Prince of Crime in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008) quieted the numerous doubters and earned him a posthumous Oscar. Now it’s Jared Leto’s time to shine as Mr. J.

“When you have someone as talented as Jared, I think when you just accept that Heath [Ledger] happened, [The] Dark Knight happened and you just move forward. It’s the oldest, one of the most well known villains in modern culture,” director David Ayer told ComicBook.com and other press at a Suicide Squad set visit. “To leave him fallow, I think would be a shame. We instantly know who he is. We know how he makes us feel, we know how he’s going to behave. Just one little drawn picture of him and a character that fantastically iconic and powerful almost emerges himself. Once you start touching that character and playing with that character he really does reveal himself in a lot of ways. He’s so defined. Jared has done nothing short of just utterly transforming himself and has done an incredible amount of work. The mannerisms, his voice, everything. When he steps on set you feel it, you feel the energy, the crew feels it. It’s going to be I believe nothing short of revelation.”

Ayer also touched upon Leto’s method approach for the part. “He’s in character and when he shows up here he’s in character,” he explained. “He’s in his trailer, he’s in character. He emails me, he’s in character. Like, whoa. He’s a little f–king scary. It will be nice to see Jared again.”

The director says the cast delved deep into researching their characters, reading whatever they could and observing their real-world equivalents. He only teased how deep Leto went with his research. “Everybody got really deep into their work. Jared, once all is said and done, I think it will just be fantastic to share the work he’s done and the layers and research,” he teased. “He’s one of the first guys I worked with and cast in this. Everybody has done their real-world work. Again, because we all want these characters to feel as realistic as possible, which is what we are doing a little bit different here.”

It feels good to be bad… Assemble a team of the world’s most dangerous, incarcerated Super Villains, provide them with the most powerful arsenal at the government’s disposal, and send them off on a mission to defeat an enigmatic, insuperable entity.U.S. intelligence officer Amanda Waller has determined only a secretly convened group of disparate, despicable individuals with next to nothing to lose will do.However, once they realize they weren’t picked to succeed but chosen for their patent culpability when they inevitably fail, will the Suicide Squad resolve to die trying, or decide it’s every man for himself?

Written and directed by David Ayer based on the characters from DC Comics, the film stars Will Smith (“Ali”), Jared Leto (“Dallas Buyers Club”), Margot Robbie (“The Wolf of Wall Street”), Joel Kinnaman (“RoboCop”) and Viola Davis (“The Help”). The cast also includes Jai Courtney (“Insurgent”), Jay Hernandez (“Takers”), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (“Thor: The Dark World”), Ike Barinholtz (“Neighbors”), Scott Eastwood (“Fury”), Cara Delevingne (“Paper Towns”), Adam Beach (“Cowboys & Aliens”), and Karen Fukuhara in her feature film debut. It is produced by Charles Roven and Richard Suckle, with Zack Snyder, Deborah Snyder, Colin Wilson and Geoff Johns serving as executive producers.

Suicide Squad opens worldwide in 3D, and in 2D, and in select IMAX 3D theaters beginning August 5, 2016.