Jared Leto Reportedly Was Not Pleased When He Heard About Joaquin Phoenix’s Solo ‘Joker’ Movie

Over the weekend, the Joaquin Phoenix-starring Joker earned the best October opening weekend numbers of all time. Everyone seems to have an opinion on the various controversies stirred up by the origin story, but guess who hasn’t given his take on the film itself? Jared Leto, who of course played the Clown Prince of Crime in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad. Leto hasn’t publicly uttered a peep about the Phoenix film and has, instead, wondered aloud who stole his decapitated head from this year’s Met Gala.

One can hardly blame the Leto at this point for staying silent over opening weekend, given that his take on the supervillain was divisive (very flashy with very little substance) at best. The reception to his portrayal wasn’t kind, which must have been a harsh realization for Leto after taking home an Oscar. And not only will Phoenix certainly be nominated for Lead Actor this year, but he’ll probably win. Whereas Leto’s version of the Joker isn’t a part of Margot Robbie’s Birds Of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of Harley Quinn), and James Gunn didn’t mention Leto while tweeting an extensive cast list for The Suicide Squad. So it comes with very little surprise to learn that Leto wasn’t thrilled when he learned about Phoenix’s solo movie about the lead-up to Arthur Fleck becoming the greatest supervillain in Gotham. From Hollywood Reporter, and within a larger piece about how Todd Phillips ended up helming Joker, this passage arrives:

[Kevin] Tsujihara and [Toby] Emmerich greenlit Joker, which cost less than $70 million, leaving Jared Leto – who played Joker in Suicide Squad – alienated and upset by the move.

That excerpt finds itself buried inside a rather fascinating peek at how Martin Scorsese was initially looking to produce Joker but quietly departed the project. As folks know now, Scorsese went on to call Marvel movies “not cinema,” but he’s stayed pretty silent on the DC front while promoting The Irishman.

Back on the subject of Jared Leto, there’s a tiny chance that his Joker could still cameo in The Suicide Squad, but that would arrive with a whole new tidal wave of criticism, since Phoenix’s majestic yet brutal take really did erase Leto’s portrayal from the map. The My So-Called Life will be alright, though. He’s still got his apparently moody performance as Morbius: The Living Vampire coming in July 2020. He’s part of the Sony Spider-Man franchise now! And there’s always “Old Town Leto” to fall back upon, too.

However, this tweet seems relevant.

(Via Hollywood Reporter)