Jared Leto Gaining Weight to Play the Joker in SUICIDE SQUAD; Says Character Is “A Beautiful Disaster”

Suicide Squad is packed with movie stars, but none of them have as heavy a burden as Jared Leto, who will play the latest on-screen incarnation of the Joker.  He’ll be in the shadow of Heath Ledger‘s unforgettable performance, although that performance should remind us to give Leto the benefit of the doubt.  Fanboys were vehemently against Ledger when he was first cast as the Joker; they had no idea how the actor or director Christopher Nolan envisioned the character for The Dark Knight.  We’re in the same place with Leto, director David Ayer, and Suicide Squad.
When asked by Billboard about playing the Joker, Leto was unsurprisingly vague, but did say:

“Do you mind if I eat a little?” Jared Leto asks Billboard during an interview for our new cover story, out Friday, Feb. 20. “I’m trying to gain a lot of weight. It means I have to eat every couple of hours — and I’m terrible at eating a lot.” (Case in point: Leto was eating vegan tacos during the interview, which are hardly the fattiest food on the market.)

I will boldly step forward and be Jared Leto’s eating coach.  It will take a lot of practice, but I believe with enough hard work, I can get him from vegan tacos to Doritos Locos Tacos. Cue “Eye of the Tiger”.
The Joker has never been a “hefty” character, and while I don’t know if Leto is supposed to pack on muscle or fat (presumably, it’s the former), the guy should probably just put on some weight for his general health.  The dude could slip through storm grate.
Leto also talked about the character’s appeal, telling Billboard “The opportunity to take on this nearly Shakespearean character — that’s what graphic novels and comic books are becoming, right?  [He’s] this beautiful disaster of a character — what a big challenge.”
Suicide Squad opens August 5, 2016, and also stars Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney, and Cara Delevinge.

Jared Leto Likely Pulling His Joker Inspirations From This Specific Comic

If there’s one thing we know about Suicide Squad’s Joker from the crazy promotional photo and the Comic-Con teaser, it’s that Jared Leto’s version of the Clown Prince of Crime will be radically different from previous live-action iterations. Sure he may have the classic white skin, ruby lips and green hair, but the psychopath is also rocking some crazy tattoos and bejeweled teeth. Previous reports have listed that the DC Cinematic Universe’s Joker is partly inspired by The Dark Knight Returns, but a new photo suggests that Leto may also be pulling his interpretation from The Joker’s debut appearance in the New 52 relaunch.

This past weekend, paparazzi (found via Comicbook.com) snapped a close-up photo of Leto’s phone while he was walking around, and the background is the cover of Detective Comics #1 (seen below), one of the many DC books that kicked off the New 52 in 2011. Detective Comics #1 is famous for delivering one of the most shocking moments in not just the New 52, but arguably in all of comic book history. After being captured by Batman, Joker had Baron Mathis, a.k.a. the current Dollmaker, cut off his face in Arkham Asylum at the end of the issue so he could be "reborn." If you decide to search for that particular panel online, be warned: it’s as grotesque as it sounds.



This event served as the prologue to Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Death of the Family storyline in the main Batman book. After disappearing for a year, Joker returned to Gotham City (wearing his cut face over his mangled visage) and targeted the members of the Bat Family to show Batman that they made him weak. After the Dark Knight defeated his arch-nemesis, Joker wasn’t seen again until the Endgame arc, where he decided to terminate his relationship with Batman by infecting Gotham City’s citizens with an airborne pathogen. As per usual, it was eventually defeated by Batman at personal cost.

In terms of getting a grasp of Joker’s personality, Detective Comics #1 is a good basic primer, and speaking as a fan of recent Batman stories, hopefully Leto has already read/will eventually read Death of the Family and Endgame to see the full New 52 Joker story unfold. However, when it comes to the face cutting, that may be harder to pull off in a movie. Because Suicide Squad is exactly a year away from release starting tomorrow, we won’t know for a while whether it will be rated PG-13 like most superhero movies or if it will make the jump to R. If it’s the former, you can bet that will be too gory for the younger moviegoing audience, and if its the latter, it will still have to be done carefully.

Little is known about how Joker will factor into Suicide Squad other than he will reportedly be incarcerated by Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) and there may be flashbacks of him torturing Harleen Quinzel, a.k.a. his future abused girlfriend, Harley Quinn. Still, if Joker does cut off his face in the 2016 blockbuster, you can bet that gruesome act will be followed up on in the future, whether it’s Suicide Squad 2 or the next Batman film.

Jared Leto’s Joker can be seen alongside the rest of Suicide Squad’s diverse cast when the film hits theaters on August 5, 2016.

Jared Leto American actor and musician

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Academy Awards

2013: Best Supporting Actor

Jared Leto as Rayon in Dallas Buyers Club

Other Nominees

• Barkhad Abdi as Muse in Captain Phillips
• Bradley Cooper as Richie DiMaso in American Hustle
• Michael Fassbender as Edwin Epps in 12 Years a Slave
• Jonah Hill as Donnie Azoff in The Wolf of Wall Street

Jared Leto was awarded the Oscar for best supporting actor in recognition of his chameleonic turn as Rayon, a transgender AIDS patient struggling to obtain effective medication for her illness, in the film Dallas Buyers Club (AAN). Though some transgender advocates characterized his performance as mannered and stereotypical, many were deeply affected by Leto’s immersive, humanistic portrayal. In the film, Rayon assists Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey [AA]) in illegally distributing essential HIV/AIDS medications in the U.S. during the 1980s. Leto dropped about 40 pounds (18 kg) for the film and donned dramatically transformative costumes and cosmetics in order to realistically evoke the presence of the terminally ill drug-addicted woman.
Leto’s first major acting role was as handsome slacker Jordan Catalano in the teen television drama My So-Called Life (1994–95). Though he continued to work in film, his focus shifted in 1998 when he formed the rock band 30 Seconds to Mars. While the group gained momentum, Leto continued to appear in supporting roles in films such as The Thin Red Line (1998), Fight Club (1999), and American Psycho (2000). His graphic performance as a heroin addict in Requiem for a Dream (2000) earned rave reviews. He appeared as the lover of Alexander the Great in Alexander (2004) and as John Lennon’s assassin Mark David Chapman in Chapter 27 (2007). After wrapping the 2009 film Mr. Nobody in 2007, Leto became increasingly focused on his musical career; his band’s 2005 album went platinum in late 2006. He declared that the challenge presented by the role of Rayon had brought him back to acting.