Suicide Squad: Jared Leto on perfecting the Joker's iconic laugh

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Jared Leto as the Joker in David Ayer's 'Suicide Squad.'. Photo: Warner Bors.

Thanks to performances by the likes of Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger, the Joker has become an iconic film character. Now Jared Leto is joining the ranks of those who’ve played the Clown Prince of Crime, which includes honing in on his own version of the villain’s signature laugh.

On Friday during an interview airing on Good Morning America, the Suicide Squad star discussed how he went about perfecting the DC comic character’s legendary cackle. “A lot of experimentation,” he said of the process. “I remember wandering the streets of New York and in Toronto where we were shooting, and I would just laugh out loud and see how people would react to it. Every time when I started to hone in on this laugh, I realized it was the one that really, people would turn around and be like, ‘What the hell is that?’”

Developing his version of the Joker went beyond finding the laugh, though, and Leto offered some more insight into his transformation. “You start to investigate and ask questions and sometimes you don’t find any answers,” he said. “You fail a lot. You stumble around in the dark. But you start to put together the pieces and get a sense of who this character is and, I have to say, it was the role of a lifetime.”

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The actor also added that he doesn’t feel like he’s finished with the character. “I don’t think you really say goodbye. I think that the Joker’s in there somewhere,” Leto shared. “I feel like this film is an introduction to the Joker and I’m hopeful that we will see more to come.”

Suicide Squad, which also stars Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Joel Kinnaman, Karen Fukuhara, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jay Hernandez, Adam Beach, and Cara Delevingne, hits theaters on Aug. 5.

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