Suicide Squad director David Ayer shared an image on Twitter of Jared Leto’s Joker with the caption: “Jared Killed it. But no one knows.”

Jared killed it
But no one knows pic.twitter.com/bQxdVpUR65

— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) November 4, 2021

With the success of the “Snyder Cut” of Justice League on HBO Max, some people have been loudly supporting David Ayer as he expresses his own frustrations with the way that Warner Bros. chopped up his original Suicide Squad film.

Is there a legit possibility that Jared Leto did a good job with his performance as the Joker in Ayer’s version of Suicide Squad? Absolutely. He was good in that extended scene in the Snyder Cut—but Ayer wasn’t directing that. Leto is a good actor, and it was clear he went all-in with the Joker, which is honestly part of the problem.

Considering all that went on behind the scenes with Zack Snyder and the messy way Warner Bros. has handled DC movies, I do think they have harmed some of the earlier films. Suicide Squad could have absolutely benefited from being allowed to be an R-rated movie and had an excellent cast that was desperate to do well. However, Leto’s backstage behavior was so obnoxious that I just do not feel like rewarding him.

Jared Leto’s chaotic method acting

In case you have forgotten, Leto got very “method” and would leave his cast mates weird gifts—although he does strongly deny sending Margot Robbie a dead rat—which, for the record, she doesn’t say he did. She said he gave her a live rat, but he does say that he got her vegan cinnamon buns.

“I did a lot of things to create a dynamic to create an element of surprise, a spontaneity and to really break down any kind of walls that may be there. The Joker is somebody who doesn’t really respect things like personal space or boundaries,” he said back then.

Viola Davis shared one story about how he gave the cast a dead pig.

“He did some bad things, Jared Leto did. He gave some really horrific gifts,” Davis said. “He had a henchman who would come into the rehearsal room, and the henchman came in with a dead pig and plopped it on the table, and then he walked out. And that was our introduction into Jared Leto.”

That is just really gross behavior, and there is just something that feels gross about rewarding him for doing that on set—regardless of how good he was onscreen. Method acting by having an accent and wig on is one thing; deciding to embody chaotic energy by sending disturbing gifts to your cast mates is another. The Joker may not respect personal space or boundaries, but Jared Leto should.

Maybe Ayer is right and Leto did kill it, and we should have a larger conversation of how Warner Bros. limited the vision of its players—but one thing we can say about the Snyder Cut is that no one spoke about being method acting creeped out on it.

(image: Warner Bros.)

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