Jack Nicholson, who portrayed the first modern Joker in the big screen for Tim Burton’s BATMAN in 1989, just turned 79. Jokerdom wishes him a wonderful birthday and thanks for your contributions to such an iconic character.
COMINGSOON.COM, Silas Lesnick released an interested bit of an interview with Jared Leto and Margot Robbie talking about what it was playing the Joker and Harley Quinn. Here is an excerpt of that article:
“I don’t think I’m allowed to talk about that so much,” Leto smiles, “But we walked in a completely new direction. I think we knew that we had to do that. It was important to do that. When the Joker has been done and done so well, it gives you a bit of an indication of where you shouldn’t go. There’s a bit of a map there. That’s the good part about it.”
As a fan of the character himself, Leto is thrilled at the chance to offer a brand-new take on a role that has become something much bigger than the sum of its parts.
“It’s quite an honor,” Leto continues. “Joker has been written about in pop culture for 75 years. I’m just the latest in the long list of people who have redefined and reinvented this character. The actors, the voice actors, the television series, the writers, the artists and the fans. People have taken the Joker and reinvented and redefined for 75 years. It is really special to be asked to do that.”
Starring opposite Leto is Margot Robbie in the first ever big-screen depiction of psychiatrist turned psychopath, Harley Quinn. While the Suicide Squad Joker may be aiming for a brand-new take, Robbie suggests that what we’ll be seeing from her character is classic Harley.
“I did a lot of research on mental illness and codependency,” she says. “I was trying to access a way in to understanding why she’s so in love with the Joker. I kind of decided that she’s codependent on him. Now that I’ve done the research, I realize that that’s more of an addiction than an illness… You see many sides of her. Sometimes she’s really funny. Sometimes she’s really mean. She just enjoys everything she does. Whether she’s doing something good or bad, she’ll have an equal amount of enjoyment out of it. She’s not always the most likable character.”
(For complete article, please visit COMINGSOON.COM HERE)
B. Alan Orange met with actor Jared Leto go get an interesting interview about the research he underwent when developing the personality of the Joker for the upcoming film SUICIDE SQUAD. The article was published in the MOVIEWEB site and you can read it HERE.
Let me bring up some interesting excerpts:
Jared Leto’s acting methods on the set of Suicide Squad have become legend. We know that he stayed in character for most of the shoot. And that he sent his cast mates some very disgusting gifts, which included used condoms, dead animals, and sticky porno magazines. What we haven’t heard about yet is the extensive research he did before climbing into the pale white skin of this madman. And this consisted of meeting with real-life murderers, psychos and psychotherapists.
…
About crafting a new Joker, director David Ayer had this to say.
“The Joker has a lot of different looks, sort of built from the looks throughout the history of DC Comics but with a new sort of flair and flavor on him so he does feel like a modern-day gangster, because… he’s always been a gangster.”
…
Until now, Jared Leto hasn’t publicly spoken out too much on his role. He wants to leave an air of mystery lingering around the performance. About making the character new for audiences again, he says this.
“We knew we had to strike new ground. There had been such great work that we knew we had to go in a different direction. So you had a kind of direction from the very beginning, knowing that you can’t go that way, so you have to head this way. That was really helpful. But the Joker is fantastic because there are no rules. The Joker operates from instinct. David and I had conversations and I think he trusted that I was going to go out and experiment and explore and come back with something for him to continue the collaboration with. And it was nice to have that trust from him. He really let me lose and encouraged me. That was a priceless thing when you’re working with a director to have that faith and trust.”
…
Jared Leto goes onto describe the kinds of research that went into finding who this version of the Joker is. This is no longer a comic book character in the hands of this Oscar winning actor. No, he insists that this is one of the most realistic versions of the villain ever seen in any medium.
“He became a real person. I don’t know if person is the right word. I think the Joker lives in between reality and another plane. Kind of a shaman in a way. It’s a very intoxicating role to take on. You have permission to break rules and to challenge yourself and anyone around you in a really unique way. I first started at the beginning, educating myself, researching, reading as much as I could, going back to the source material. And then at a certain point, I knew I had to stop doing that. Because the Joker has been redefined, reinvented many times before. I think the fun thing about it is when people have done it in the past, there is some spirit of the Joker essence that they keep, but they either build upon something or tear something down and start again at the beginning.
For me, I knew once I had gone through the process of educating myself, I had to throw everything away and start from the beginning and really build this from the ground up. It was a transformative process. There was a physical transformation. There was a physical conditioning. There are a lot of things [I did].
It’s probably better to not get into it but to the Joker, violence is a symphony. This is someone who gets an extreme reward from the act of violence and manipulation. Those are the songs he sings and he is very in tune with what makes people tick (love this quote). I did meet with people that were experts, doctors, psychiatrists that dealt with psychopaths and people who had committed horrendous crimes, and then I spent some time with those people themselves, people who have been institutionalized for great periods of time. I guess when you take on a role, any role, you become part detective, part writer, and for me that’s my favorite time of the entire process, the discovering, the uncovering, and the building of a character. Yeah, it’s really fun.”
Jared Leto goes onto talk about the character as though he is a person removed from the actor himself. He insists that he wasn’t present for the shoot. But that, depending on who you ask, The Joker did have a great sense of humor. The actor then went onto talk about the video he made, which was shown to the rest of the cast right before a big dead hog was dropped in the middle of the table at the script reading.
“I think in the beginning it was important to set up and define our relationship, so to speak. [laughs] There were a lot of things. It was fun. You’ve got to remember doing these things isn’t just about the result, it’s the process. It’s working with Mr. Frost, who is the Joker’s henchman. It’s making the choice and the decision of how am I going to introduce the Joker to the very first people who will meet him. So it becomes an exercise as much for me as it is for anyone else. And it’s as much about the process as it is about the results. How do you go about these sorts of things? How do you work with the people around you? It was a lot of fun. The attention to detail and the process that we went through helped to bring a life to the character for me. Those actions and those gestures-the joker loves a grand gesture. Those were really important. And they were fun. The Joker is someone who doesn’t take things too seriously.”
and from the site COSMIC BOOKNEWS (please read more HERE)…
… As far as the look of the Joker, it was a collaborative process. There were things I brought to the table and things David brought to the table and it was a mashup of both of our sick and twisted minds. There were specific things that he liked and wanted and I was there to help bring them to life in the best way I could.
I think the most important thing I brought was probably not to do with the outside but with the internal. But you know David was specific with tattoos. They were his idea but there was a lot to play with. Who knows what will end up in the final film?
I was trolling over the waves of cyberspace when I stumbled upon this nifty “test” to see which incarnation of the Joker suits me best. After a few questions…VOILA!
My favorite Joker story of all time, and I can’t just way to see it…so to tease the fans DC Has released a preview of the animated film…full 10 minutes of insights of what promises to be one of the best Batman animated films in a long time. Please sit back and enjoy this nice preview with me…
I can’t wait for this film to come out….
Lucas Siegel wrote a very interesting article for COMICBOOK.COM about Jared Leto’s approach to his characterization of the Joker for the SUICIDE SQUAD MOVIE. Here is what he had to say:
Jared Leto looks at The Joker as a Shakespearean level character. That’s the core of how he approached the Clown Prince of Crime for Suicide Squad, something he found important because of what’s come before at the talents of folks like Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, Mark Hamill, and others.
“The work that’s been done on this character by so many people before me has been so impactful,” Leto told EW, “so incredible, so much fun, so profound, so risky, that it’s a very special thing to be asked to take on that responsibility.”
He looks at playing The Joker the same way someone might approach a role in a Shakespeare play that’s been so well-defined by many actors before him.
“Whether you’re a composer working on a piece of music that was written a century ago, or you’re an actor on stage, reinterpreting a play, it’s very common these days. Directors take on great works of cinema, actors reinterpret roles, that’s been going on for a great deal of time. From Scarface to Hamlet. In some ways it’s really interesting to reinterpret, redefine. It a weighty thing to do. But it’s exciting. The Joker is one of those roles,” Leto said. “He was written brilliantly when he was first shared with the world 75 years ago.”
He said that he “had to make it [his] own,” and ultimately, he’s “just really grateful [he] had the opportunity.”
(Lucas Spiegle’s article originally published in COMICBOOK.COM on March 31, 2016. HERE)
I understand companies do incredible things to raise their sales, but this?
Come on! Joker is great as it is, the mystery behind his previous life adding to the character charisma. Why fix what DOES NOT NEED TO BE FIXED?
I really disagree with DC’s idea and though it will probably cannot be stopped from bappening, I hope it does not have any repercussions in the future of the charcter or his futures stories.
(Watch original IGN article HERE)
Yes, the “kids” at Sideshow are at it again, and bring forward another awesome new sculpt of the DARK KNIGHT’S Joker that Heath Ledger helped to immortalize.
Let me introduce…THE DARK KNIGHT THE JOKER PREMIUM FORMAT STATUE
The sculpt is awesome and the presentation is even better. The artists over at Sideshow deliver us another winner. It is already available for ordering…I am planning on getting one, what are you waiting for to get yours?
Director David Ayer, had only praising words for Jared Leto’s Joker performance on the upcoming SUICIDE SQUAD movie, and thought there is just a little of the Joker still showing on the latest trailer, it is definitely promising performance. Here is what Ayer had to say:
“It’s a scary character to tackle,” Suicide Squad director David Ayer says of Joker. “This iteration of him, people will realize there really is a continuity of history — there is a lot of respect for what the Joker represents, who he is as a character. He is the best-known villain in fiction, so there’s an incredible responsibility there to also be faithful to what he is but at the same time push him into this next world, next time, next phase.”
Ayer adds that “people kept their distance” from Leto when he was in 24/7 Joker mode. “I love helping actors find what methodology works best for them. It’s like tailoring a suit — it’s not one size fits all. But it really made an event when he would show up on set. There was almost a pageantry to him, which did translate into the power on screen he has.”
Leto even freaked out Ayer a few times.
“Big time. The hairs stand up on the back of your neck,” says the director, who grew up on the old 1960s Batman TV show. “If you’re a Batman fan, you have to love/hate the Joker because he’s the best nemesis ever. Just to have him on one of my film sets, it was a very memorable thing for me.”
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What Leto brings to the Joker — the first on screen since the late Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning The Dark Knight baddie — is a fearless nature, Snyder says.
“The commitment to the role, you’re going to see that really shine through in a way that you’re not used to seeing actors in movies really go all the way with (in) every little moment and every little breath,” Snyder says. “You’re going to get taken on a journey with Jared that I don’t know that everyone’s ready for but I think it will be amazing.”
(Original interview appeared on the USATODAY HERE. Check it out)
Ok, so DC decided to release a longer and more comprehensive trailer of the upcoming SUICIDE SQUAD movie and though the plot still looks and feels sketchy, making me a little nervous about the success of the movie on the box office (and I measure success as the ability of a movie to amass a great deal of profit after covering costs after showing). I just hope it does not go the way of the Fantastic Four movie…
My opinion is going to be available in a future post.
On the other hand, in the whole trailer once thing is obvious…Jared Leto’s Joker shone with its own light. If you can pass the looks and tattoos..it seems a very demanding and physical role for which Mr. Leto seemed very prepared an dedicated (if you have followed his Joker-inspired behavior on the set and social media). Still, they are keeping most of the Joker action under wraps (as if Joker is a secret weapon or something) but so far the Joker character seems to be the only thing that will pull me to see the movie….SORRY HARLEY…you just could not make it for me, though I’m sure you will be irresistible eye candy for the male fans out there….
Well without any delay, here is the latest trailer:
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