'Suicide Squad' Director Debunks Joker Rumor, Stars Dish in Clips From Miami Red Carpet

Suicide Squad arrives at the multiplex in a little more than a week, and cast and crew are dutifully making their rounds to get fans pumped up about the DC Comics film. In an eleven-and-a-half minute clip (watch it above) from the red-carpet press line at a screening in Miami earlier this week, WSVN-TV’s Chris Van Vliet got quality chat time about the super-villain saga with Margot Robbie, Will Smith, Jay Hernandez, and Karen Fukuhara, while director David Ayer shot down at least one big fan rumor about Jared Leto’s Joker.

Robbie confesses that, when she signed onto the project, it had neither a script nor a cast, and she was completely unfamiliar with the clownish sociopath (and cosplay-inspiring) Harley Quinn. She soon got up to speed, and says that once production began, she was determined to make sure fans were satisfied.

Related: A Soap Star, a Professor, and a Bombshell: The Strange But True History of Harley Quinn Revealed

Harley Quinn “has such a big fan following, and I know when there’s a character, or a book, or something like that that I really, really care about, and I’m just so nervous when they make it into a movie,” Robbie says. “I’m like ‘Please don’t wreck it, please don’t wreck how much I love this book or character or whatever it is. So yeah, I just want fans to be happy with it.”

Writer/director Ayer points out that, while Robbie’s Harley Quinn and Jared Leto’s Joker have been getting the most pre-release attention, Suicide Squad’s story is most fully centered on Will Smith’s sharp-shooting Deadshot. Smith acknowledges that Deadshot’s function as the story’s dramatic crux meant he didn’t get to indulge in the same sort of off-the-wall craziness as his castmates. At least the superstar got to have some fun during his interview, breaking into an impromptu duet on his 1997 hip-hop hit, “Miami” with Van Vliet.

Related: ‘Suicide Squad’ Promo Clip: You Don’t Want to Threaten Will Smith’s Deadshot

Ayer, meanwhile, debunked one of the internet’s persistent rumors – namely, that the true, original identity of Jared Leto’s Joker was, in fact, Jason Todd, known to comic aficionados as Batman’s second Robin (and who was, famously, killed by the Clown Prince of Crime in the 1988 storyline “Batman: A Death in the Family”). Looks like that Joker-spray-painted Robin costume seen in the Batcave in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will remain a mystery, at least until the film hits theaters Aug. 5.

‘Suicide Squad’ director David Ayer on the appeal of making a movie about villains: