Jared Leto Clarifies Story He Gave a Dead Rat to Margot Robbie While Filming Suicide Squad
JB Augustine
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Among the many stories from the set of David Ayer’s Suicide Squad, the most infamous is perhaps that star Jared Leto gifted co-star Margot Robbie a dead rat, in a failed prank allegedly done in an attempt to get into his character as The Joker.
Now, five years later, Leto has debunked the above urban legend, clarifying that he actually bought Robbie a pet rat.
Speaking to GQ in a new video in which he breaks down “His Most Iconic Characters”, Leto observed that the legends surrounding Suicide Squad took on a life all their own, stating “I never gave Margot Robbie a dead rat. That’s not true.”
Leto, a vegan, then tried to explain the real gift, but instead veered into talking about vegan cinnamon buns. “I actually gave her—I found this place in Toronto that had great vegan cinnamon buns, and that was a very common thing.”
GQ reported all the way back in 2016 that the rat gifted to Robbie was alive, a story which was confirmed by the Harley Quinn actress when she revealed that she had kept the small animal as a pet, saying she “ended up getting him like a sweet little playpen.”
Amanda Waller actress Viola Davis backed up Robbie’s account in a separate interview. “And then he sends Margot Robbie a black rat, that was still alive in a box,” Davis told the UK’s The Independent. “She screamed, and then she kept it.”
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As far as the other gifts he reputedly sent the rest of the cast – reportedly including a pig carcass, a used condom, and a sex toy – Leto did not comment.
The truths in those cases are probably best left to history and forgotten, although it’s likely that the explanations behind these items are just as tame and unsensational as the story of Robbie’s now-pet rat.
Whatever the truth, the cast was kept on their toes by Leto and his level of seriousness about playing the role. “Now I’m terrified just as a person thinking ‘Is he crazy?’” Davis further recalled to The Independent. “But the second part was, ‘Oh shit, I’ve got to have my stuff together.’ You talk about commitment.”
Speaking of commitment, Leto is set to reprise his role as the Snyderverse Joker in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, out next month on HBO Max. Likewise, Davis and Robbie will reprise their respective roles as Amanda Waller and Harley Quinn in The Suicide Squad this August.
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