Margot Robbie on the Harley Quinn-Joker Scenes That Didn't Make It Into 'Suicide Squad'
After all the talk about Jared Leto’s preparation for his role as the Joker in Suicide Squad – the visiting with psychopaths, the staying in character on set, the sending his castmates all sorts of vile gifts – the biggest surprise in David Ayer’s film was that the Clown Prince of Crime is barely a factor, appearing in only a few short, largely perfunctory scenes. And according to star Margot Robbie, who plays the Joker’s twisted girlfriend Harley Quinn, that’s because quite a bit of the material she shot opposite Leto wound up on the cutting-room floor.
During an extended episode of “Tipsy Talk” with host Hazel Hayes (viewable above), Robbie explains that the reason so much Joker-Harley stuff was excised from the film was that it interrupted the flow of the action. As she says, “There was so much of our backstory… They probably realized that the emotional through-line of the story had to be the mission we were on, and kind of explaining The Enchantress’ position and all that kind of stuff.”
Such comments jibe with Leto’s own admission that he filmed enough stuff to make up an entire standalone Joker movie – which, on the heels of the recent (and superior) Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice “Ultimate” Edition extended Blu-ray cut, makes one suspect that an expanded director’s cut is on the way (regardless of Ayer’s claims that the version released in theaters is the only one he’s assembling). I mean, when you have an Oscar winner delivering a performance inspired by Hamlet, how can you let it go to waste?
Suicide Squad is in theaters now.
Watch the cast talk spoilers:
