Jared Leto was reportedly extremely unhappy with the new Joaquin Phoenix-led Joker movie.
The 47-year-old actor, who played the character in Suicide Squad, was frustrated that Warner Bros. was moving ahead with the picture early on, THR reported on Saturday (October 19).
He reportedly felt “alienated and upset” after the movie was greenlit.
“According to sources familiar with Leto’s behavior, when the Oscar-winning actor learned of the [Todd] Phillips project, he not only complained bitterly to his agents at CAA, who also represent Phillips, but asked his music manager, Irving Azoff, to call the leader of Warners parent company (it’s unclear whether it was Time Warner’s Jeff Bewkes or AT&T’s Randall Stephenson, depending on the timing). The idea was to get Warners to kill the Phillips film,” the report reads.
A source in Jared‘s camp denies the request was made.
The report also suggests that the studio “wasn’t thrilled” with his well-publicized efforts to get into character on set to play Joker in Suicide Squad: “the studio wasn’t thrilled with these efforts, says a source with knowledge of the situation. And it seems the director wasn’t that pleased with the resulting performance: In the final cut of David Ayer’s ensemble antihero movie, Leto’s Joker got only about 10 minutes of screen time. While promoting the project, Leto — who had been billed as a lead character — spoke to media about how much footage of his Joker had been cut.”
He will not be reprising his role in the upcoming Birds of Prey, or in The Suicide Squad.
“How do you play the Joker you established following [Phoenix]? It kind of ends his Joker run,” a source went on to explain to THR.
READ MORE: Jared Leto Responds to Rumors That He Cameos as Joker in Margot Robbie’s ‘Birds of Prey’
