Leto's struggles as The Joker

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Jared Leto: Paying The Joker was a painful experience

Jared Leto says playing The Joker is 'Suicide Squad' was a painful experience.

The 43-year-old actor fully immersed himself in the role of the comic book super villain and admitted that, while it was fun, it was also extremely tough.

Jared told Empire magazine: ''There was definitely a period of...detachment. I took a pretty deep dive. But this was a unique opportunity and I couldn't imagine doing it another way. It was fun, playing those psychological games. But at the same time it was very painful, like giving birth out of my pr**k hole.''

Speaking about his take on the character, Jared revealed he tried to play The Joker differently to how he has been portrayed before by actors including Heath Ledger, who received a posthumous Oscar for his turn as the villain in 'The Dark Knight'.

He explained: ''I always get the sense that The Joker may be much older than people think. It's something different. If you don't break rules, you're not going to strike new ground. I think I'll be cooling down for the rest of my life.''

And director David Ayer has called Jared's portrayal ''transcendent''.

He said: ''The Joker is the third rail of comic book movies. There's a power to that character, and by some freaking miracle, through the incredible things Jared has done and the photography and all the other millions of things that went into it, we've cooked up something transcendent. He's scary.''