Proving an interesting choice -- Jared Leto has been officially named as the new Joker, a role that Heath Ledger so made his own six years ago that is iconic makeup has become the new face of the comic book villain ever since. While no one doubts Jared's acting chops, given last year's Oscar win for his Dallas Buyers Club performance, but it still seems a little jarring casting the 30 Seconds to Mars rocker as a character still so closely associated with Ledger and his apparent suicide. The DC anti-hero movie, Suicide Squad, will reportedly include a who's who of Hollywood A-listers including Wolf of Wall Street beauty Margot Robbie. The buxom Blonde from Australia, who left many mouths agape after her performance opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, will be playing the Joker's girlfriend Harley Quinn. The cast will also include Will Smith as Deadshot along with model recently turned actress Cara Delevingne as Enchantress.
The rumor that from a month or so ago that Jared Leto was going to be taking over the role of the Joker in new DC franchise film, Suicide Squad, turns out to be 100-percent true, despite the cringe factor.
According to an irreverent report by The Washington Post, the 30 Seconds to Mars frontman will be joining a coming together of Hollywood's young and old to round out the team of comic book ne'er do wells:
"Will Smith will star as Deadshot, Tom Hardy will play the group's leader, Rick Flagg; Margot Robbie will play Harley Quinn; Jai Courtney will play Boomerang; and Cara Delevinge will play Enchantress in the film adaptation of the storied comic book.
"And -- head snap -- Jared Leto will play the Joker."
The way Jared explained it to Fast Company, it is sort of surprising that he's working on anything outside of bird watching right now, because he sort of gets off on passing on major motion picture more than staring in them:
"I never wanted to make the most movies...to make the most albums.
"So I like to employ the power of no.
"We all want to say yes, because with yes comes so much opportunity, but with the power of no comes focus and engagement."
Whatever her new age reasoning might be for taking the job, many of her Wolf of Wall Street fans are ecstatic that Margot Robbie has taken the role of Harley Quinn, opposite Leto.
The Australian head turner was recently named as IMDb's top breakout actress of 2014 as well the third most popular actress over all the site.
IMDb managing editor Keith Simanton told USA Today that after Martin Scorsese's last picture hit the theaters the site exploded with interest in the never-before-seen knockout (via Daily Mail):
"Everyone came on the site to say, 'Who the heck is that?"'
Word has it that Suicide Squad won't start filming until mid-April of next year, but should be ready for theaters as soon as August 2016.
