'Suicide Squad' Star Jared Leto on the Joker's Twisted Relationship With Harley Quinn

For over two decades, the mad love shared by Harley Quinn and the Joker has been one of the most enduring relationships in the DC Universe. Their dysfunctional, borderline abusive affection for each other — and their general talent for mayhem — is brought to the big screen in the new movie Suicide Squad, David Ayer’s highly-anticipated (by comic book movie fans, if not critics) team-up movie uniting some of DC’s most colorful bad guys.

While the Joker (Jared Leto) isn’t part of the titular squad, as Ayer recently pointed out to Yahoo Movies, his story is intrinsically, and intimately, connected to Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie). “As this is an origin movie, the Joker defines her in a lot of ways,” said Ayers. “He hates that he loves her, and he hates that there’s somebody outside of himself that he needs. I think that’s something the Joker greatly wrestles with.”

For Leto, the chance to portray this iconic comic book villain in a different, quasi-“romantic” light was one of the things that drew him to the role. “It was interesting to explore a different side of the Joker that I don’t think audiences have seen yet. There’s a fine line between love and madness for sure — I don’t know which it is [for him].”

And the Oscar-winning star of Dallas Buyers Club says that he and Robbie didn’t spend a lot of time overthinking their onscreen relationship. “I’m not a big believer in rehearsal. We both built our characters, showed up and let it rip. She’s the perfect partner for this.” Asked whether he’s ever done anything crazy for love — though maybe not Joker-level crazy — Leto just smiles. “I think we’ve all done a little something crazy for love. That’s what makes it love!”

Watch Margot Robbie talk about Harley’s costume: