Jared Leto studied "real violence" for his role in 'Suicide Squad'.
Jared Leto
The 44-year-old actor plays The Joker in the upcoming Warner Bros. and DC Comics anti-hero movie about a mercenary team of super villains and claims studying genuine physical attacks on YouTube taught him a lot about his character.
He said: "The Joker is incredibly comfortable with acts of violence.
"I was watching real violence, consuming that. There's a lot you can learn from seeing it. Not every act of violence is committed with frenzy, either. I remember learning that. People can be calm. They've made their choice and go and do something, and it's not in a frenzy.
"It's methodical and sometimes even hypnotic and deliberate."
The actor is renowned for going to extreme measures to get into character, such as gaining 67lbs of fat for his role in 2007's 'Chapter 27' and shrinking to a near-skeletal state for his Oscar-winning turn in 'Dallas Buyers Club'.
However, these days Jared has learned he doesn't need to "suffer" for his art.
He told Rolling Stone magazine: "I think I felt before that you have to suffer a bit to get something worthy, and that's ridiculous."
Ahead of his role of a heroin addict in 2000 movie 'Requiem for a Dream', Jared spent weeks living on the streets of New York's East Village and would "shoot up water" to make the addicts he was with feel more comfortable.
He recalled: "They would shoot up dope and I would shoot up water.
"People would be uncomfortable if they're all shooting up and you're not. I wasn't sharing a needle. To shoot up anything is intense. That was a long time ago. I wouldn't do that again."
Tagged in Jared Leto