In a week from now, Warner Bros. and DC will unleash their latest take on The Joker with Jared Leto’s portrayal of the Clown Prince of Crime in the DC Extended Universe supervillain team-up Suicide Squad. Leto has of course some rather large shoes to fill – including Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning turn in 2008’s The Dark Knight – and the actor has been chatting to Rolling Stone about following that iconic performance.
“Heath did an impeccable, perfect performance as the Joker,” said Leto, who becomes the fourth actor to play The Joker in live-action on the big screen after Cesar Romero (Batman: The Movie), Jack Nicholson (Batman) and Ledger. “It’s one of the best performances ever in cinema. I had met Heath before. I didn’t know him well, but he was a beautiful person. I think had it only been portrayed by Heath and it was never a comic book, maybe I would have felt that would be inappropriate. But I thought that given the history, it was OK. The good thing about other people having done this is that you know what direction not to head in.”
SEE ALSO: Suicide Squad director David Ayer says the Joker / Jason Todd rumour is ridiculous
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?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt-n2zweyPg
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Suicide Squad hits theaters on August 5th 2016 and sees David Ayer (Fury) directing a cast that includes Will Smith (Focus) as Deadshot, Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club) as The Joker, Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street) as Harley Quinn, Jai Courtney (Terminator Genisys) as Captain Boomerang, Joel Kinnaman (RoboCop) as Rick Flag, Viola Davis (The Help) as Amanda Waller, Cara Delevingne (Paper Towns) as Enchantress, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Thor: The Dark World) as Killer Croc, Ray Olubowale (Resident Evil: Afterlife) as King Shark, Jay Hernandez (Hostel) as El Diablo, Adam Beach (Flags of Our Fathers) as Slipknot, Jim Parrack (Fury) as Johnny Frost, Ben Affleck (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) as Batman, newcomer Karen Fukuhara as Katana, Common (Selma) as Monster T, Ike Barinholtz (The Mindy Project) as Captain Griggs and Scott Eastwood (The Longest Ride) as Lieutenant ‘GQ’ Edwards.
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https://youtu.be/b7Ozs5mj5ao?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng
Originally published July 29, 2016. Updated November 30, 2022.
