Popular for displaying a vast range of characters on screen, Jared Leto is known for taking extreme measures to do his best in a project. While some of them have been highly praised, others were not received very well received by the audience. However, one of his characters has received both good and bad remarks about the movie. The actor starred as one of the most popular DC villains, Joker, in the 2016 film Suicide Squad, which wasn’t the best version of Joker.
Yet he got the possibility to reprise the character in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Leto talked about reprising the role and working with Snyder in the movie during an appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
Jared Leto Talks About Playing Joker For Zack Snyder
Batman and Joker have been one of the most intriguing hero-villain duo of the DC Universe. They have faced each other several times on screen. While Christian Bale is considered to have the best portrayal of the DC hero, his The Dark Knight co-star Heath Ledger has been credited with the best Joker performance so far.
However, it was not the same for Jared Leto, who portrayed the character following Ledger’s iconic work. But it changed after he reprised his character in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, which featured Leto as a ruthless and serial-killing crime boss.
Talking about the movie on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, The Little Things star said, “It’s one of those roles that is just incredible.” He also stated that he was happy to work with the filmmaker and he was “happy to be a part of his dream.”
He has also said that it was his last DCU film, and he loved working with the Man of Steel director. Leto was reportedly not paid for his brief cameo in the movie. Not just Leto, Snyder has also shared that he was not paid for the remastered version of the film.
Why Did Zack Snyder Include Jared Leto’s Joker in ZSJL?
After Zack Snyder had to leave the production of the 2017 film midway, Joss Whedon took on the responsibility of completing the movie. After its release, fans started demanding to see what the original director of the film had in mind for DC’s superhero team-up in the director’s cut.
While Jared Leto’s Joker did not feature in the 2017 Justice League, Snyder decided to bring in the clown prince of crime in his version of the movie. During an interview with Vanity Fair, he shared that Ben Affleck’s Batman and Leto’s Joker never really faced each other in the DCEU.
So, he wanted to fill that space, as they are each other’s prime nemesis. “That’s the thing I also felt like fans deserved from the DC Universe. That is to say, the Jared Leto Joker and the Ben Affleck Batman, they never really got together,” he told Vanity Fair.
He explained that it would have been “uncool” for this incarnation of Batman and Joker to not face each other. This version of Leto’s Joker, however, was received quite well, and many even called it the redemption of the actor’s portrayal of Joker in Suicide Squad.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League was available on Max.
Source: The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
