Originally published September 30, 2017. Updated April 18, 2018.
Jared Leto is well known for the extreme lengths he goes to in order to get into character, but his alleged antics during the shooting of Warner Bros.’ DC blockbuster Suicide Squad certainly raised a few eyebrows.
According to reports, Leto sent a number of bizarre “Joker-inspired” gifts to his cast mates, including live rats, a dead pig, bullets, “sticky” Playboy magazines, anal beads and even used condoms. However, it seems some of the more outlandish reports may have been wide of the mark, as Leto has downplayed the situation during an interview with Entertainment Weekly to promote his new film Blade Runner 2049.
“Most of it was total bullshit,” said Leto. “Like that I was giving used condoms to people, which was not true. It doesn’t matter how loud you shout or hold up a sign with your pants off in Times Square — people will run the story that they want. On set, we were all laughing [about the gifts]. People were thrilled to [get] them. Whatever the Joker would give, was the idea. I didn’t really even put them together, basically. It was my team and my assistant. We were all having fun with it. It was really touching. Was I focused when I was doing the scenes? Of course. Look you work the way you work, I’ll work the way I work. You can kiss my ass if you don’t like.”
SEE ALSO: Jared Leto is “a little confused” about Warner Bros.’ Joker movie plans
Thankfully Leto seemed to calm things down a little on Blade Runner 2049, opting instead to temporarily blind himself throughout the shoot with specially-made contact lenses.
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?
SEE ALSO: Follow all of our DC Extended Universe coverage here
Suicide Squad 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, 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.
