'Suicide Squad': Jared Leto met with psychopaths to prepare for Joker role

Cast member Jared Leto talked about how hard he worked to create his character The Joker in the forthcoming movie “Suicide Squad,” in a recent interview. The actor revealed that he met psychopaths as part of his research.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Leto said that he initially started researching for his role by reading the source material for The Joker. He, however, quickly realised that the character has been redefined and reinvented multiple times over the years. The actor then proceeded to look beyond the source material and built his character from the ground up.

Director David Ayer apparently gave Leto a lot of freedom to explore and experiment with the character and come back to him with his vision. The actor said that it was “priceless” to see the director have such faith and trust in him.

Leto decided to meet expert psychiatrists who deal with psychopaths, who had committed “horrendous crimes.” The actor later decided to meet with these people who had been jailed for a long time, to better understand the psyche of The Joker in “Suicide Squad.”

Although The Joker has different dimensions, the one common theme that is perhaps common to all the versions of the character is that he is a modern-day gangster. Ayer explained that The Joker has “always been a gangster,” despite having different looks over the years in the DC Comics.

Leto had to go through a physical transformation and there was also some physical conditioning involved to create the The Joker for “Suicide Squad.” As for the specific look of the character, it was a collaborative effort of him and the director. The actor revealed that Ayer was very particular about the tattoos of the villain, but the actor also added that it is still not clear what specific aspects of his character will make it to the final cut of the movie.