Suicide Squad Director Reveals Unseen Jared Leto Joker Image

Director David Ayer shares a new image of Jared Leto's Joker from Suicide Squad. Leto's role as the Clown Prince of Crime was significantly cut down from what he filmed for the supervillain ensemble, though Ayer has denied recent reports that this was due to his dissatisfaction with Leto's performance. The method acting Leto employed for Suicide Squad was widely reported on, with the actor reportedly sending bizarre gifts to his co-stars, and Will Smith saying that he never actually met Leto himself during the production.

As shooting on James Gunn's The Suicide Squad gears up, and fans turn their attention to Joaquin Phoenix's performance in Joker, both the supervillain team and the villain himself have become a major point of discussion for fans as of late. And while it seems as though DC and Warner Bros. have more or less moved on from Ayer's take on both, the director has taken to social media to remind fans of his and Leto's contributions to DC's recent cinematic efforts.

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Ayer recently unveiled additional behind-the-scenes images from Suicide Squad, such as an early make-up test for Leto's Joker, but his latest social media post is considerably more candid. Specifically, the director posted an image of a scorched Joker pointing a gun a Harley Quinn. Below the photo, the director refers to Suicide Squad as Harley Quinn's story, while also calling to attention the changes made to his film during the editing process. Take a look at the image and read Ayer's comments below:

Ayer's commentary on the image refers to his original plan for Joker and Harley Quinn in his cut of Suicide Squad, which would see Harley standing by her new friends and breaking off her relationship with Joker. By contrast, the ending in the theatrical cut involves Joker breaking Harley out of prison. Nevertheless, the plot device of their romance ending has notably been carried over into the upcoming Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), with the trailer (and the title) making clear that her codependent relationship with Joker is over.

The newly released image of Joker from Suicide Squad and Ayer's comments accompanying the post could point to the director taking a similar approach to Zack Snyder in communicating the differences between his version of Suicide Squad and what was ultimately released in theaters. While Ayer has made clear that he remains grateful for the opportunity to direct the DC film, it is also evident that the changes implemented on Suicide Squad took the story for both Harley and Joker in a direction different from what Ayer had envisioned.

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Source: David Ayer