David Ayer Says Jared Leto's Joker In 'Suicide Squad' Is Inspired By "Drug Lords On Instagram"

One of the big question’s surrounding this summer’s “Suicide Squad” is Jared Leto‘s inked up, gold toothed Joker. Already, the tales of his on set behaviour is the stuff of legend, with the actor going method, and sending his castmates “gifts” like anal beads and used condoms to bring an air of authenticity and danger to his portrayal of the legendary comic book villain. It turn, the director and cast have been singing Leto’s praises, though the Oscar winner himself has for now, stayed out of any pre-release press rounds. And once again, helmer David Ayer offers a window into Leto’s process and how they built the baddie, which includes some influence from social media, of all places.

“A lot of it has to do with creating a character with some kind of history and footprint in our world,” Ayer told Yahoo. “And not have this sacrosanct being outside of our continuum, our reality. If a guy like him really existed today, where would he come from? How would he do business? Who would he know? What would he look like? In my mind, I took a lot of inspiration from drug lords on Instagram. It’s a great way to understand the lifestyle of a villain.”

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There’s no doubt that Joker’s attire has been a major talking point, but the filmmaker wants to make it clear there’s a reason for every choice that has been made.

“The tattoos tell a very specific story,” Ayer continues. “And eventually people will decipher them and understand what’s going on, but obviously they’re contentious, any time you do something new it’s contentious. There’s very specific stories and easter eggs in those tattoos. And even his teeth, there’s an entire story behind that which is absolutely canon. It’s putting his history on his body. This Joker is a little more working class, who I believe could live in our world.”

Through it all, Leto lent total commitment to his role, and Ayer seems to have nothing but admiration for the actor’s immersion playing the Joker.

“With Jared, it’s tough for him,” he said. “He constantly has to give birth to himself, he goes away, he comes back, he shoots, he goes away… The Joker is something you have to be, and you can see how exhausting and painful it is for him to be this character. But you can feel it when he comes to work, the crew feels it, everyone feels it. It’s like the birds stop flying. He’s f***ing terrifying.”

“Suicide Squad” opens on August 5th. Check out two new TV spots below.