Jared Leto Talks About Following Heath Ledger’s Portrayal of The Joker
Heath Ledger’s version of the Joker was incredible. Fans complained when he was initially cast, but he ended up giving a mind-blowing performance,. It was so good that he actually won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for it. When Jared Leto was initially cast in the role I thought it was a solid casting choice, but I didn’t envy him for having to follow Ledger’s legendary act.
As you know from what we’ve seen, Leto definitely made the character his own. His version of The Joker is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. During a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Leto talked about Ledger’s performance and how he felt about following it:
"Heath did an impeccable, perfect performance as the Joker. It's one of the best performances ever in cinema. I had met Heath before. I didn't know him well, but he was a beautiful person."
He went on to talk about why he felt it was ok for him to pick up the mantle of The Joker and bring the character back to life again:
"I think had it only been portrayed by Heath and it was never a comic book, maybe I would have felt that would be inappropriate. But I thought that given the history, it was OK. The good thing about other people having done this is that you know what direction not to head in."
The actor then discussed how he prepared for the role and how he wanted to become comfortable with acts of violence. Apparently he just watched a shit-ton of real life violent crimes on Youtube:
"The Joker is incredibly comfortable with acts of violence. I was watching real violence, consuming that. There's a lot you can learn from seeing it. Not every act of violence is committed with frenzy, either. I remember learning that. People can be calm. They've made their choice and go and do something, and it's not in a frenzy. It's methodical and sometimes even hypnotic and deliberate."
I know we’ve seen a good amount of footage of The Joker already, but fans are still incredibly curious to see him in his full glory in the movie and how different this Joker will be from previous versions. Suicide Squad hits theaters on August 5th.