The Suicide Squad star was allegedly upset because he felt that he was led to believe that he would be getting his own standalone movie for the iconic DC villain.
Reports has started circulating that the former Suicide Squad actor is probably done with his role as the Joker following the huge success of the Joker Movie. A new story surfaced that Leto allegedly tried to get Todd Phillips to shut down the film.
The Hollywood Reporter announced that a source in Leto’s camp has denied the allegations of which Leto was apparently so upset that a standalone Joker film was being developed without him as its top-billed star. He also purportedly tried to have his former music manager Irving Azoff talk to the top brass of Warner Bros to try and convince them to call off the film. Azoff apparently did not go through with Leto’s request.
The award-winning actor was allegedly upset due to the fact that he thought he would be getting his own film for the Batman villain following promises after the Suicide Squad movie.
If there is any weight to this assumption, it would be possible that the studio veered away on the idea after the 2016 film was not received well by the fans. Most of which attributes to Leto’s tattooed iteration of the iconic comic book villain.
The Hollywood Reporter further states that it was ironic that Warner Bros. apparently implied that they didn’t have that much faith in the Joker film as well, giving Phillips a very miniscule budget compared to past projects. The entertainment company expected that his film would just fizzle away after the first weeks at the box office or that he won’t even go through being in the project altogether.
The opposite happened though, as Joker became a monster of a blockbuster film, coming strongly as the number one movie in the first two weeks after its premiere, exceeding $600 million at the domestic box office alone.
As stated by the Hollywood Reporter, Leto’s on-set demeanor and performance was what led to his chances for a standalone film to become slim. It was stated that David Ayer, the director of Suicide Squad was not satisfied with the final cut of the film; the reason being why most of Leto’s Joker was left out of the movie. Meanwhile, the actor’s antics on-set was far away from pleasant; Sending dead pigs to the entire cast, and most specifically, gifting Margot Robbie who played Harley Quinn a live rat.
While it seems less likely that Joaquin Phoenix will reprise his soon-to-be award winning performance as Arthur Fleck, it’s more likely that Leto himself is done with his iteration as well. He won’t be part of the Margot Robbie-led Birds of Prey film nor James Gunn’s appraisal of The Suicide Squad.