Jared-Leto.jpg

Everyone working on Suicide Squad is aware of the intense pressure Jared Leto is under.

The actor has taken on the iconic role of The Joker for the upcoming comic book ensemble. The character was famously played by the late Heath Ledger in 2008's The Dark Knight and he was awarded a posthumous Oscar for his portrayal.

Jared is known for only taking on a small amount of roles because he goes method, meaning he completely immerses himself in the character he's playing. He's again chosen this path this time around, according to his co-star Jai Courtney.

"I don't think any of us are naĂŻve to the pressure he's perhaps under. It's not something I've talked about with him, but I've seen him working and it's cool, man," Jai told MTV News, before being asked if the star has gone method.

'Sort of. I don't know how you measure that these days. I haven't seen him, since we started working, out-of-character, let's put it that way.'

Jai is starring as Captain Boomerang in the production, with an all-star cast including Margot Robbie, Cara Delevingne, Will Smith, Scott Eastwood, Ben Affleck, Viola Davis and Joel Kinnaman also involved.

It's directed by David Ayer and is about a group of supervillains who are enlisted to take on dangerous missions.

Although Jai is delighted to be involved, it could all have been very different.

"This was funny actually; I was on a road trip with Shia LaBeouf down to New Orleans to film a movie we did last year called Man Down. We were getting chummy, because we were playing mates, and he was telling me all about Fury and his experience of David Ayer, who directed that, and his next project was going to be this thing called Suicide Squad," Jai recalled. "We launched into this discussion about comic book films and I can be quoted as saying, 'I'll never do a comic book movie,' and I love Ayer's work but I was sitting there kind of like, 'You know, the genre's saturated, there's so much of this sh*t at the moment.' And then two weeks later I get a Skype call with David Ayer and he's like, 'Thinking of you coming on board for this thing,' and I'm like, 'Anything! Anything! Whatever you like, I am such a comic book kid, whatever you want.'"