--- title: Jared Leto Suicide Squad: How He Created Joker Laugh description: Jared Leto reveals his creepy method for developing his unsettling laugh as the Joker for the upcoming movie, "Suicide Squad." canonical: https://time.com/4324670/suicide-squad-jared-leto-laugh/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-10T16:43:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:32:17.084Z og:title: Here's the Creepy Way Jared Leto Created the Joker's Laugh og:description: Crowd-sourcing at its best. og:url: https://time.com/4324670/suicide-squad-jared-leto-laugh/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7b4cd6b72d8dc6f/69889292ab6d7726df6a9a13/jared-leto-joker-laugh.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: US-OSCARS-ARRIVALS og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's the Creepy Way Jared Leto Created the Joker's Laugh twitter:description: Crowd-sourcing at its best. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7b4cd6b72d8dc6f/69889292ab6d7726df6a9a13/jared-leto-joker-laugh.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jared Leto Had the Creepiest Trick for Creating His Joker Laugh for _Suicide Squad_ > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang May 10, 2016 4:43 PM UTC  Actor Jared Leto arrives on the red carpet for the 88th Oscars on February 28, 2016 in Hollywood, California. (VALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images) Actor Jared Leto arrives on the red carpet for the 88th Oscars on February 28, 2016 in Hollywood, California. (VALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images) VALERIE MACON—AFP/Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang May 10, 2016 4:43 PM UTC When [Jared Leto commits to a role](http://time.com/4087973/jared-leto-suicide-squad-empire/), he doesn’t play around. His latest turn as the Joker in the upcoming [_Suicide Squad_ movie](http://time.com/4288039/suicide-squad-footage-mtv-movie-awards/) has already garnered lots of buzz, thanks to his extensive method acting. As a telling example of just how immersed he was in the character, the Oscar winner [gifted fellow cast member Viola Davis with a dead pig](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BqO6nvEQMc) and [sent Margot Robbie a live rat](http://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/video/jared-leto-gave-margot-robbie-a-live-rat-as-a-suicide-squad-set-gift/2994857). His creepy method for developing the unnerving laugh as the Joker might just take the cake, however. Leto told the hosts of CNBC’s “[Squawk Box](http://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/03/jared-leto-got-in-on-uber-airbnb-heres-one-key-to-his-success.html)” that he relied on some unconventional crowd sourcing to develop his character’s trademark cackle. “I worked on the laugh walking around the streets of New York and Toronto, and I kinda would walk around the streets and see what laughs would get under people’s skin,” Leto said. “You know when you hear someone laugh at a restaurant? It’s a little jarring. I tried them out. And I kind of got to a place where I would laugh and people are always turning around like, ‘Who is this creepy guy behind me?'” You can watch part of the interview with Leto below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4324670/suicide-squad-jared-leto-laugh/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4324670/suicide-squad-jared-leto-laugh/"},"headline":"Jared Leto Had the Creepiest Trick for Creating His Joker Laugh for Suicide Squad","datePublished":"2016-05-10T16:43:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:32:17.084Z","description":"Crowd-sourcing at its best","url":"https://time.com/4324670/suicide-squad-jared-leto-laugh/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","movies","celebrities","jared leto","Suicide Squad"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7b4cd6b72d8dc6f/69889292ab6d7726df6a9a13/jared-leto-joker-laugh.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7b4cd6b72d8dc6f/69889292ab6d7726df6a9a13/jared-leto-joker-laugh.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-OSCARS-ARRIVALS","caption":"US-OSCARS-ARRIVALS","creditText":"VALERIE MACON—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4324670/suicide-squad-jared-leto-laugh/","name":"Jared Leto Had the Creepiest Trick for Creating His Joker Laugh for Suicide Squad"}}]}] ```