Warner Bros. had to reportedly deal with an unhappy Jared Leto when it came to producing the smash-hit Joker.
Joker is the talk of the town all over the world as thousands flock to see the dark and mature telling of the Joker origin story. With the film grossing half a billion dollars worldwide and gathering critical acclaim for star Joaquin Phoenix, it’s hard not to imagine Warner Bros. executives gleaming with excitement. However, their road to heaven had a tiny hurdle: Jared Leto.
Remember Jared Leto? The Joker from Suicide Squad? Apparently, that’s how Jared Leto felt when Warner Bros. announced that a standalone Joker film was going to be produced without him. In an article by The New York Times that details the film’s road to financial and critical acclaim, they discussed how one of the major hurdles Warner Bros. had to face was Jared Leto’s unhappiness towards the situation.
According to the New York Times, Jared Leto “was not keen to have a competing performance.” The article doesn’t go into detail how Jared Leto expressed these sentiments but they probably boiled down to a few angry e-mails and phone calls. After all, he continues to be undermined by Warner Bros. regarding his Joker. It’s hard not to image how Jared Leto felt about this betrayal by Warner Bros. Jared Leto has been vocal about how the studio mistreated his interpretation of the Joker from Suicide Squad and how a majority of his footage was cut from the final version of the film. Beyond that, Jared Leto won’t be appearing in the upcoming Warner Bros. sequel/reboot of Suicide Squad, which is being directed by James Gunn.
What are your thoughts on Jared Leto being upset with Warner Bros. over Joker? Let us know in the comments!
Here is the official synopsis for Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker:
Director Todd Phillips “Joker” centers around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone fictional story not seen before on the big screen. Phillips’ exploration of Arthur Fleck, who is indelibly portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, is of a man struggling to find his way in Gotham’s fractured society. A clown-for-hire by day, he aspires to be a stand-up comic at night…but finds the joke always seems to be on him. Caught in a cyclical existence between apathy and cruelty, Arthur makes one bad decision that brings about a chain reaction of escalating events in this gritty character study.
Directed by Todd Phillips from a script he co-wrote with Scott Silver, Joker stars Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Bill Camp, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Glenn Fleshler, Douglas Hodge, Marc Maron, Josh Pais, and Shea Whigham.
Joker is now in theaters everywhere. Stay tuned for the latest news regarding Joaquin Phoenix, Jared Leto and the future of the DC Extended Universe!
Source: The New York Times
