Jared Leto scared people in New York when he tried out The Joker’s "laugh" on them.
The Oscar-winning actor wanted to perfect the mannerisms of the DC Universe comic book character who he plays in upcoming Warner Bros. movie ‘Suicide Squad’, and revealed he would cackle at people in The Big Apple and in Toronto, Canada, to see how much it freaked them out.
He explained: "I worked on the laugh walking around the streets of New York and Toronto, and I kinda would walk around the streets and see what laughs would get under people’s skin."
Jared follows Jack Nicholson who played the green-haired baddie in ‘Batman’ and Heath Ledger who took on the maniacal criminal in ‘The Dark Knight’, and he was so determined to nail his interpretation of the villain he had no qualms about being "creepy" to passers-by, including people eating in restaurants he visited.
Speaking on CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’ he said: "You know when you hear someone laugh at a restaurant? It’s a little jarring. I tried them out. And I kind of got to a place where I would laugh and people are always turning around like, ‘Who is this creepy guy behind me?’ "
But it isn’t only innocent members of the public that the 44-year-old star has been scaring whilst in character, as Jared also sent a number of weird gifts to his ‘Suicide Squad’ co-stars, including used condoms and sex toys.
His co-star Margot Robbie, who plays Harley Quinn, previously revealed, "I got so many weird things. I can’t even begin to tell you the weird things I got," while Will Smith, who stars as Deadshot, added: "He went full Joker. He really set the tone. He wasn’t playing with it. He was dead serious as an actor. He was going in and he was 100 per cent going into this character."
And Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje – who plays Killer Croc and received "sticky Playboy magazines" from Jared – claimed the gross gifts, including a dead pig, helped the cast to bond.
He explained: "That was a good gift because it had the effect of unifying us as a group because then it became us against him. We sent the messenger back with the dead pig and our own personalised message. It got the ball rolling."
Jared Leto scared the public in New York as The Joker
