Suicide Squad: 11 Key Influences You'll See In Jared Leto's Joker

7. Heath Ledger

If you're picking up any message from this entire break-down, it should be that while Leto's Joker is very obviously something new, he's also a product of somethings borrowed and somethings old as well. He's like a walking Easter Egg, despite the irritating fanboy anger that has ruled the character out for being a wild departure. And inevitably, there will be beats of Ledger's performance in there. In both cases, the slant is very much on uneasiness - rather than with Nicholson's more obviously pantomime performance - and establishing a creepy aura that takes the place of the need to explain the character's origins. Leto is right to channel that spirit: if he came in and tried to wholly reinvent the character, it would be a disservice to what Ledger achieved, and of course there's the old adage that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Leto's Joker will hopefully take Ledger's performance as a base and add something wilder and more mature (or at least a more developed madness), and if there is anything to be taken from Leto's commitment to Method, it's that he seems to have approached the character the same way Ledger did. Both men inspired uneasy feeling that they were too deeply attached to the roles, and Leto has said he'll probably spend the rest of his life recovering.