When Suicide Squad was shooting last summer, word got out about creepy gifts that Jared Leto, while in character as The Joker, sent weird gifts to his cast-mates. Since then, tales of his unusual generosity as the Clown Prince of Crime have resurfaced every now and then, with these gifts ranging from simply usual to downright creepy. Now with the movie only days away from release, Leto (fortunately not in character) has finally explained why he sent these gifts during principal photography.
While speaking with Fox 5 DC, Leto talked about how The Joker loves to toy with people's minds, so when he was getting to the Joker's core, he thought about what the other actors' characters would like, though the gifts themselves certainly . As he detailed:
It was interesting to do, because The Joker loves to play games, he loves to manipulate, and that was part of the reason to do that. When you do give a gift to someone, even in real life, you think about, 'What do I get them?,' you think about who that person is to you, what would they like? So that immediately started to be really good homework for me. What do I give Deadshot? What's my relationship with Deadshot? I gave Deadshot a briefcase full of bullets. It was kind of a message, it was kind of a threat, it was kind of a reminder. I wrote every character a note -- a poem. What it did was that it started me on a journey into thinking what these people are, and it was a lot of fun.
The briefcase filled with bullets is among the tamer gifts Jared Leto sent out to his fellow Suicide Squad actors. Some of the more bizarre ones included giving Margot Robbie a live rat and making a video for the cast that included a dead hog. Leto even admitted to sending used condoms, which is just all kinds of wrong. However, he did imply that there's been some exaggeration about what he sent, and that he sent some "nicer" gifts as well. He continued:
I did give some nice gifts as well, but people don't talk about that. And by the way, some of the strange ones aren't even true. I'm not gonna say what's true or what's not, but the press love to have fun with it. There were some crazier ones and some nicer ones that I gave. I did give cupcakes.
While cupcakes are a delicious treat, I'm not sure if I would even accept those from Jared Leto as Joker right away. There would be brief moments where I'd wonder if he was too much in character and poisoned the pastries. Needless to say, Leto's gift giving freaked out those around him, including Viola Davis and director David Ayer. If or when Leto reprises Joker, whether it's in Suicide Squad 2 or the Batman movie, maybe he shouldn't be so generous.
Suicide Squad hits theaters this Friday.
