--- title: Suicide Squad: Will Smith Says He Never Met Jared Leto description: Leto was too into his role as Joker to talk canonical: https://time.com/4063994/will-smith-suicide-squad-jared-leto/ author: Entertainment Weekly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-07T00:22:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:01:20.642Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Will Smith Says He Never Met 'Suicide Squad' Co-Star Jared Leto og:description: Smith says it's because Leto was too into his role as Joker to talk og:url: https://time.com/4063994/will-smith-suicide-squad-jared-leto/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2468eacb7daf2ce/698867280b72e32de96e631f/gettyimages-491572384.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Interviews On The Sidelines Of Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Will Smith Says He Never Met 'Suicide Squad' Co-Star Jared Leto twitter:description: Smith says it's because Leto was too into his role as Joker to talk twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2468eacb7daf2ce/698867280b72e32de96e631f/gettyimages-491572384.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Will Smith Says He Never Met _Suicide Squad_ Co-Star Jared Leto by [Jessica Derschowitz / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Jessica Derschowitz / Entertainment Weekly Oct 7, 2015 12:22 AM UTC  Entertainer Jared Leto interrupts a Bloomberg West television interview at the Vanity Fair 2015 New Establishment Summit in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015\. The summit assembles titans of technology, politics, business, and media for inventive programming and inspiring conversations around the ideas and innovations shaping the future. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images Entertainer Jared Leto interrupts a Bloomberg West television interview at the Vanity Fair 2015 New Establishment Summit in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015\. The summit assembles titans of technology, politics, business, and media for inventive programming and inspiring conversations around the ideas and innovations shaping the future. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesBloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Jessica Derschowitz / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Jessica Derschowitz / Entertainment Weekly Oct 7, 2015 12:22 AM UTC The _Suicide Squad_ cast got really friendly while shooting the DC Comics film, as evidenced by [elaborate birthday cakes](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/07/04/margot-robbie-gets-harley-quinn-birthday-cake-suicide-squad-set) and those[#SKWAD tattoos](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/08/19/suicide-squad-cast-tattoos), but it seems Jared Leto was so committed to [playing the Joker](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/04/24/jared-leto-the-joker-first-official-photo-suicide-squad) that he didn’t get to know his costars at all. During an interview on Beats Radio 1, [Will Smith](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/10/05/will-smith-new-music-tour) (who plays Deadshot in the film) revealed Leto stayed in character the entire time he was on set. “I’ve never actually met Jared Leto,” the actor said. “We worked together for 6 months and we’ve never exchanged a word outside of ‘Action!’ and ‘Cut!’ I literally have not met him yet. So, the first time I see him will be ‘Hey, Jared. What’s up?’ He was all in on the Joker.” This isn’t the first time another _Squad_ member has detailed Leto’s dedication to the role. Margot Robbie, who plays Harley Quinn, previously revealed Leto sent her a pet rat before filming began ([she kept it as a pet](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/07/13/suicide-squad-margot-robbie-jared-leto-rat)). And Adam Beach, who plays Slipknot, also shared that Leto [sent bullets to Smith and a dead hog to the cast](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/06/26/jared-leto-joker-live-rat). _Suicide Squad_ opens Aug. 5, 2016. ### 11 Roles You Probably Didn't Realize Marvel Stars Also Played  James Spader as the voice of Ultron in The Avengers: Age of Ultron and Dr. Daniel Jackson in Stargate Marvel/Disney; MGM  Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America in The Avengers: Age of Ultron and Jake Wyler in Not Another Teen Movie Marvel/Disney; Columbia  Paul Bettany as Vision in The Avengers: Age of Ultron and Charles Herman in A Beautiful Mind Marvel/Disney; Universal  Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron and David "Dave" Lizewski/Kick-Ass in Kick-Ass Marvel/Disney; Lionsgate  Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil in Daredevil and Tristan Thorn in Stardust Marvel/Disney/Netflix; Paramount  Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk in Daredevil and Edgar the bug in Men in Black Marvel/Disney/Netflix; Columbia  Elden Henson as Foggy Bottom in Daredevil and Fulton Reed in the Mighty Ducks trilogy. Marvel/Disney/Netflix; Buena Vista  Stellan Skarsgård as Dr. Erik Selvig in Thor and Bootstrap Bill Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Marvel/Disney; Buena Vista  Christopher Eccleston as Malekith in Thor: The Dark World and the Ninth Doctor in Doctor Who Marvel/Disney; BBC  Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser in Guardians of the Galaxy and Roy Walker/The Black Bandit in The Fall Marvel/Disney; Roadside Attractions  Bonus: Andy Serkis as Ulysses Klaue in The Avengers: Age of Ultron and Gollum in The Lord of the Rings Marvel/Disney; New Line Cinema ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4063994/will-smith-suicide-squad-jared-leto/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4063994/will-smith-suicide-squad-jared-leto/"},"headline":"Will Smith Says He Never Met Suicide Squad Co-Star Jared Leto","datePublished":"2015-10-07T00:22:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:01:20.642Z","description":"Leto was too into his role as Joker to talk","url":"https://time.com/4063994/will-smith-suicide-squad-jared-leto/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2468eacb7daf2ce/698867280b72e32de96e631f/gettyimages-491572384.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jessica Derschowitz / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2468eacb7daf2ce/698867280b72e32de96e631f/gettyimages-491572384.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Interviews On The Sidelines Of Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit","caption":"Interviews On The Sidelines Of Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit","creditText":"Bloomberg—Bloomberg via 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":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4063994/will-smith-suicide-squad-jared-leto/","name":"Will Smith Says He Never Met Suicide Squad Co-Star Jared Leto"}}]}] ```