In the years since Zack Snyder left the production of Justice League before filming had been completed, the film’s stars have shown their devotion to the filmmaker and his vision for the adventure, with Joker actor Jared Leto recently noting that this commitment goes both ways, as Snyder is just as committed to his performers as they are to him. Confirming just how passionate the filmmaker is about his cast, he was seemingly able to get Leto to reprise his role of the Joker, previously only seen in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad, for the new sequences Snyder is filming for the HBO Max release of Justice League.
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“I love Zack Snyder and, from the early days and onward, he’s a maverick, ruthlessly committed to his actors and his vision,” Leto shared with Deadline. “I’m excited to see where he takes this. I really just think so highly of him and it’s a whirlwind being part of these things. First of all, you’re lucky to ever step into these shoes, or suits, or spandex, or whatever it is that you have. It’s really fun to reinvent and explore, that’s a really fun challenge that I like a lot.”
Coming off of winning an Academy Award for his role in Dallas Buyers Club, fans were excited to see Leto’s take on the Clown Prince of Crime, with early reports claiming we would see him not only in Suicide Squad, but also in other installments in the DC Extended Universe. While the films in the franchise were financial successes, they were critical disappointments, with Warner Bros. deviating from the shared universe formula to standalone adventures.
Confirming the inherent potential of the Joker is that Joquin Phoenix won an Oscar for his performance in Joker, with Leto noting how many more stories we can expect from the mythology of comic books.
“I think in the next 10-20 years, we’re gonna keep seeing these amazing interpretations and so many different people get to step in those shoes,” the actor expressed. “I say the same thing, this mythology, these Marvel/DC — yeah, they’re popcorn movies, but sometimes they’re a little bit more. Sometimes they start to reflect who and what we’re all about, sometimes they’re Shakespearian, and it’s quite amazing that these characters were written 50, 60, 70 years ago and we’re still obsessed with them. It’s pretty awesome.”
Zack Snyder’s Justice League is expected to debut on HBO Max later this year. Leto also plays the title role in Morbius, which was slated to hit theaters last summer but has been pushed to January of 2022.
