Jared Leto Explains Why He Gave Gifts And Wrote Poems For His Suicide Squad Co-Stars

You can say what you want about Jared Leto – just don’t say he’s not committed to his role as The Joker. Cast as the Clown Prince of Crime in Suicide Squad, the award-winning actor famously undertook the villain through some serious method acting. The film’s cast and crew have all shared stories of Leto’s – or, should I say, The Joker’s – antics on set. And, now, the actor has explained why he gave his co-stars some much-gossiped about gifts.

As many fans will recall, news broke earlier this year that Leto had gifted his co-stars with strange presents like live rats, bullets, Playboy magazines, and even a dead pig. Explaining his decision to send the gifts, Jared said, “It was interesting to do because The Joker loves to play games, loves to manipulate, and it was part of the reason to [give the gifts].”

He continued on, saying, “When you give a gift to someone in real life, you think about what do I get them. You think about who that person is to you, what would they like. So that immediately started to be really good homework for me. What do I give Deadshot? What is my relationship with Deadshot? What’s our history? Down the line, with every character, you start to think about what would I get them? I gave Deadshot a briefcase full of bullets. It was kind of a message, kind of a threat. It was kind of a reminder.”

Leto also emphasized his gifts all came accompanied with a personalized note, a fact which many outlets have glossed over in favor of sensationalizing the actor’s bizarre presents. “I also wrote every character a note – a poem,” he said. “What it did, it started me on this journey of thinking about who these people are.”

Talking around some of his stranger gifts, Leto did confess he bought some perfectly nice and normal gifts while also revealing several of his famoously ‘strange gifts’ were nothing but rumors. Though he refused to rat out the rumors, he did take a moment to confirm he gave out cupcakes as a gift, so that’s pretty cool. As long as those delicious pastries weren’t filled with Joker Venom, I’d definitely be down to try some.