The Joker is a character that's been reinvented by some of Hollywood's most celebrated actors
for decades — from Jack Nicholson's cartoonish take on the evil-doer in Tim Burton's classic
Batman, to Heath Ledger's iconic, dark portrayal of the troubled villain in Christopher Nolan's
The Dark Knight, to Joaquin Phoenix's bleak and realist interpretation in Todd Phillips'
Joker.
Then there's Jared Leto's controversial Clown Prince of Crime.
"Introduce a little anarchy."
Leto took on the role in David Ayer's 2016 film Suicide Squad, and has now become the
first actor to get a second chance at playing Batman's sworn enemy in a live-action movie
thanks to Zack Snyder's Justice League.
That's right: With the long-asked-for Snyder Cut of Justice League, Leto has broken the
record for number of times an actor has played the Joker in a live-action film.
Outside of live-action, of course, that's a different story — but we're not talking
about that right now.
"Even though you never call and never write, I've still got a soft spot for you."
Released in March on HBO Max, the Snyder Cut orders up a second serving of Leto's Joker,
albeit with a few adjustments.
The film gave Snyder the opportunity to take back the reins of the 2017 film that was notoriously
reshot and re-edited by Joss Whedon.
What he's delivered is a mammoth 242-minute movie tailor-made to the director's wishes
— including the controversial inclusion of Leto himself.
But Leto's presence in the film was far from a given.
Here's how Leto's terrifying Joker came to grace our screens with his presence once again.
"All of that chit chat's gonna get ya hurt."
"Oh!
My god."
To put it lightly, Leto's Joker from 2016's Suicide Squad never got the respect the method
actor had hoped for, with some fans calling his performance as the iconic character the
worst one they'd ever seen.
The film itself was widely panned, with the actor's interpretation of the role seen as
a creepy, absurd, and thuggish caricature.
While Heath Ledger was certainly a hard act to follow, posthumously winning the Academy
Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2009 for his take on the Joker — some fans believed
Leto deserved a second shot at the role.
Suicide Squad director David Ayer did, as well.
In 2020, Ayer tweeted,
"My heart breaks for Jared – he did magnificent work.
Most of it remains unseen."
Later, referring to the editing process undertaken by Warner Bros., Ayer doubled down on his
sentiments, saying,
"Jared was pretty mistreated during this.
No one has seen his performance.
It was ripped out of the movie."
It's understandable then, that Snyder and his wife Deborah, who also served as a producer
on Justice League, had to do a little bit of lobbying to get Leto's Joker included in
the new cut.
As Deborah Snyder explained to The Hollywood Reporter, they weren't sure how the idea would
go over with studio heads.
She says they forged forward anyway, hoping that the studio would be convinced when they
saw what the creative team had in mind.
She said,
"At first, it was like 'No,' and then it was like, 'Well, maybe,' and then Zack was like,
'Do you want to see the scene that I worked on?'"
It's clear both Leto and Snyder took a cue from the Suicide Squad criticism and decided
to tone down Leto's look for the Snyder Cut.
Leto, like all of the other actors who've played the Joker, is an Academy Award-winning
actor, clearly capable of taking the role in a variety of directions.
This time, he brought the character to a darker, more subdued place.
While the Joker of Suicide Squad was decked out with short, neon green hair, flashy grills
on his teeth, and a body covered in loud tattoos, Justice League's Joker displays a quieter
energy, emanating a sadness similar to Ledger and Phoenix's performances that some are comparing
to Brandon Lee in The Crow.
His hair is now long and black, and the tattoos have (somehow) disappeared.
In an interview with The Late Show's Stephen Colbert, Leto called his new character "an
evolution" of what had come before, and credited the new shades of his take on the Joker to
Zack Snyder's direction.
"When you work with a different director, you bring out different things, so — or
they bring out different things in you."
While the meeting between Batman, played by Ben Affleck, and Joker, was one of the most
highly anticipated moments of Snyder's film, it turns out that the two actors didn't even
get to be in the same room during filming.
Deborah Snyder explained to IGN,
"We had to shoot them separately.
We had this ticking clock and we had to get that scene shot because it had such extensive
visual effects but all of the actors' schedules didn't align."
Ultimately, according to Deborah Snyder, they got the go-ahead from the studio to include
the additional scene.
"It was something that Zack was like, 'Listen ... this is the end of our journey here.
I really want to see Batman and Joker.'"
"Careful."
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Looper videos about the DC Extended Universe are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.