We're about a month and a half away from Suicide Squad blazing into theaters, and Jared Leto's method approach to the Joker is already the stuff of legend. We've heard tell of his total immersion in the psyche of the mad villain on set, and of sending his fellow castmates bullets, a live rat, and a dead hog (in character) among other things as production presents.
But director David Ayer may not be far behind Leto in his technique. He also may have taken Leto's link to Fight Club a bit too seriously. (Leto played pretty boy Angel Face in the David Fincher film.)
According to Yahoo!, Ayer had the actors “hit each other as hard as they could” in rehearsal. Yep. The idea is that a person's fighting style reveals a great deal about who they are, which is probably true. But also kind of insane when you think about the level of talent involved in this project.
“The rehearsal was very intense,” the director said. “It wasn”t a normal rehearsal, we”d talk about their lives, their history, and really got them to open up as people to each other. I also had them fight. I had them fight each other. You learn a lot about who a person really is when you punch them in the face. It gets rid of a lot of the actor stuff.”
If these rehearsals aren't available as a Blu-ray feature I will burn everything. Was everyone in on this? Was it girls against girls and boys against boys? Or is there some universe where Margot Robbie and Leto are instructed to wail on one another in some dingy restaurant basement? I'd imagine — and hope — not. But a Jai Courtney and Will Smith battle? Possible.
Meanwhile, Leto's commitment went so far that reporters on set were told to refer to him as “Mr. J” or “Smiley”.
“Sometimes it can be awkward, sometimes it can be terrifying, most of the time it”s just funny,” Robbie said, as the one who worked most closely with Leto. “I”m trying not to laugh, because he says such hilarious things. Jared”s really funny, and terrifying, and just nuts. Absolutely nuts. It”s really interesting to work with someone so method, because I haven”t worked with someone doing that before.”
“When we first met him, he said, 'Look girls, I”m going to be pretty intense, I”m going to be the Joker when I come for fittings,'” costume designer Rene Fontana told the outlet. “Sometimes he tried to terrify us, but we”re strong women. He was growling at us, and we”d play back.”
Again, the behind the scenes features for Suicide Squad are my most highly anticipated in years…You?