Being a actor means you do your due diligence and put in the time to research your role. Or at least that's how it's supposed to work for actors in Hollywood. And when you're a method actor — who stays in character for the entire production duration while filming — like Jared Leto, then you do lots of research and stay in character until all of your scenes are shot and your character is wrapped.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Leto disclosed some of his preparation process to becoming his, and director David Ayer's, version Joker in SUCIDE SQUAD and not a version of the Clown Prince that has already been seen in TV and movies.
"I first started at the beginning, educating myself, researching, reading as much as I could, going back to the source material. And then at a certain point, I knew I had to stop doing that. Because the Joker has been redefined, reinvented many times before. I think the fun thing about it is when people have done it in the past, there is some spirit of the Joker essence that they keep, but they either build upon something or tear something down and start again at the beginning. For me, I knew once I had gone through the process of educating myself, I had to throw everything away and start from the beginning and really build this from the ground up. It was a transformative process. There was a physical transformation. There was a physical conditioning.
"This is someone who gets an extreme reward from the act of violence and manipulation. Those are the songs he sings and he is very in tune with what makes people tick. I did meet with people that were experts, doctors, psychiatrists that dealt with psychopaths and people who had committed horrendous crimes, and then I spent some time with those people themselves, people who have been institutionalized for great periods of time. I guess when you take on a role, any role, you become part detective, part writer, and for me that’s my favorite time of the entire process, the discovering, the uncovering, and the building of a character. Yeah, it’s really fun.
"I knew I had to be committed as much as possible. I had to be committed beyond belief. And I did what I needed to do to deliver the best I possibly could. There was a lot on the line and I want to do justice for all the work that has been done before. It’s not a part-time job. It’s immersive. It takes over your life and that’s what I needed to do for myself. Other people can show up and are genius but I did what I needed to do to deliver. And we had a good time with it. I think it was exactly what was needed for me, at least."
To read more about how Leto brought this version of the Joker to life, click here.
SUICIDE SQUAD releases on August 5.
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