Suicide Squad star Jared Leto is setting the record straight about the reported extremes he went to in preparing to play the Joker for the DC Extended Universe film. A film and TV veteran of 25 years, Leto has no doubt made impressions on audiences over the past couple of decades with such roles as Jordan Catalano on the acclaimed ABC drama My So-Called Life, and in film, as Harry Goldfarb in director Darren Aronfsky's riveting drug addiction drama Requiem for a Dream.
And while Leto has consistently delivered solid work throughout his career, his work has attracted a larger portion of the spotlight since his Best ing Actor Oscar-winning turn opposite Matthew McConaughey (who took the Best Actor Oscar) in the 2013 AIDS drama Dallas Buyer's Club. His first gig following the win was that of the legendary DC villain the Joker, which not only commanded attention because it was his first big post-Oscar role, but because it would inevitably would draw comparisons to the iconic, Best ing Actor Oscar-winning performance by Heath Ledger in director Christopher Nolan's 2008 mega-blockbuster The Dark Knight.
Related: Jared Leto Reacts to Joker Origin Movie
Although the Joker ended up being more of a ing character in Suicide Squad than the pre-marketing materials led fans to believe, Leto's reported behavior as a method actor to become the Clown Prince of Crime definitely raised a few eyebrows.
Now doing promotion for anothe0r high-profile film with his role in weird gifts he supposedly gave to cast and crew . He says:
'There were some things that were mentioned about gifts and the fact that I was giving used condoms to people, which was not true. It was not true."
That's not to say that the Joker didn't get jokey with his colleagues. After all, he wanted the gifts to have some sort of correlation to his role as the Joker:
"I gave wrapped gifts to everyone, and people were thrilled to get them. They were laughing. We were giving whatever The Joker would give was the idea ... It was really touching at the end to go and give the gifts. We'd be filming and people would be laughing, and they'd go and open up and there'd be a porno magazine or something, you know, 'plus 60' ... 'It would be whatever would be funny. You know, whatever would be absurd or outrageous."
Leto implied that the stories were embellished by the media, who simply picked up the ball and ran stories based on rumors:
"Some of the stuff that you do can go viral or get written about. Especially with the Joker, some of that stuff just took on a life of its own. And most of it was total bullshit ... What are you going to do at that moment? It doesn't matter how loudly you shout or hold up a sign with your pants off in Times Square, people are going to go with the story that they want to run. And it just wasn't true."
There's no denying that Leto gets into his playing his roles, however. He reportedly stayed in character and lost 30 pounds to play an AIDS victim in Dallas Buyers Club; and for Blade Runner 2049, director Denis Villeneuve says Leto blinded himself with special s to play Niander Wallace.
In the Wild West environment known as internet, don't be shocked if more strange stories about Leto preparing for his roles pop up in the future, and some of them are sure to arise out of his time on Blade Runner 2049. As far as playing the Joker is concerned, fans are sure to be a little more suspicious with stories about Leto's behavior on the Suicide Squad 2, now that he's cleared up the very strange tales from the first film.
NEXT: Suicide Squad Director Praises Jared Leto's Joker
Source: Entertainment Weekly Radio
