--- description: Will Smith tells the story of a creepy gift that Jared Leto as the Joker set to Margot Robbie on the set of Suicide Squad. title: Will Smith Tells Disturbing Story About Jared Leto from Suicide Squad Set image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2b3c9e6c402045f/69889f02f887dc36cfe96c39/suicide-squad-jared-leto.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Will Smith Tells Disturbing Story About Jared Leto from _Suicide Squad_ Set  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Jul 23, 2016 8:26 PM CUT  Jared Leto in Suicide Squad Jared Leto in Suicide SquadWarner Bros.  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Jul 23, 2016 8:26 PM CUT [Will Smith](http://time.com/4378352/will-smith-wild-wild-west/ "undefined") dominated the _Suicide Squad_ panel at [San Diego Comic-Con](http://time.com/4412612/comic-con-movies-suicide-squad-wonder-woman/ "undefined") Saturday sharing stories of the various traumas he experienced on set, at the hands of Jared Leto, who plays the Joker, and director David Ayer. He shared a story of Leto sending a particularly disgusting gift to Margot Robbie. “This dude walks in and goes I have a message from Mr. J. And he puts a box down in front of Margot being like this is a gift from Mr. J in honor of your relationship,” said Smith. “Margot starts to open the box, and there’s a note from the Joker. And I was like, ‘That’s cool. That’s funny. Jared is like taking it real serious,'” he went on. “And Margot opened the box and there was a live rat in the box. I was playing Deadshot, but if I had pearls on I would have clutched them.” Jared Leto’s method acting wasn’t the only psychologically challenging part of the film. Director David Ayer also pushed the actors to their mental limits, Smith said. “We all shared really deep stories about ourselves and our pains and our triumphs,” said Smith. “And then on set you thought he was being a nice guy you were trying to share your life, and then in the middle of a scene he throws your childhood trauma back at you and says, ‘Dude, the Joker did it.'” Later, Will Smith said that the cast (and its crazy antics) earned him cred with his kids. “No matter how cool you think you are, your kids think you suck. So this is like the first time where I’m cool for real,” he said. “My kids are doing what I say for the next couple of months, but it’s a really good look.” The cast also talked about how they did many of their own stunts on the film. “Whatever anyone did in the film, I did in a pair of heels,” said Robbie. “I learned how to hold my breath underwater for like five minutes, that was cool.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4420595/suicide-squad-will-smith-jared-leto/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4420595/suicide-squad-will-smith-jared-leto/"},"headline":"Will Smith Tells Disturbing Story About Jared Leto from Suicide Squad Set","datePublished":"2016-07-23T20:26:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:29:43.372Z","description":"He gave a weird gift to Margot Robbie","url":"https://time.com/4420595/suicide-squad-will-smith-jared-leto/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2b3c9e6c402045f/69889f02f887dc36cfe96c39/suicide-squad-jared-leto.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2b3c9e6c402045f/69889f02f887dc36cfe96c39/suicide-squad-jared-leto.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"SUICIDE SQUAD","caption":"SUICIDE SQUAD","creditText":"Warner Bros.","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/4420595/suicide-squad-will-smith-jared-leto/","name":"Will Smith Tells Disturbing Story About Jared Leto from Suicide Squad Set"}}]}] ```