One of the most anticipated parts of this summer's Suicide Squad was, of course, the Joker. Not only was this the debut of the DC Extended Universe's take on the iconic Batman villain, but it was being brought to life by a Oscar-winner Jared Leto. It looked to be so different, a wholly modern twist on the 75-year old character totally distinct from Heath Ledger's version from The Dark Knight; and stories of Leto's extreme method acting lengths only increased the allure.

Regrettably, things didn't go quite to plan, with the Clown Prince of Crime's role in the movie severely cut down, much to Leto's dismay. Thankfully, the home release will address that with an extended cut, as well as various making-of features that, based on some newly-released footage, will shed some serious light on the Suicide Squad production.

Collider have received an exclusive behind-the-scenes featurette that takes a deeper look at Leto's process. There's no new extended footage from the movie itself in the clip, but there's a lot of B-roll, as well as some interesting comments from both the actor and director David Ayer. Of his approach to the Joker, Leto has this to say:

"This role has always been interpreted so beautifully, but then there’s the other side: What else can you uncover? What other parts of this story or this life, what can you do that hasn’t been done? That side of me that likes exploration, that likes adventure, that likes to push the envelope, that was set on fire immediately. I knew that I was going to have to dive really deep and go to a place that I’ve never gone before."

We've heard comments like this before, but it's still fair to say that in the finished film that Leto didn't get to show much of what he's discussed here. In fact, for many it was hard to get a lock on what exactly his take on the Joker was trying to be at all. Here's hoping the Suicide Squad Blu-ray goes some way to correcting that, while also giving those who were won over by what we did get more of what they liked.

Ayer certainly believed in Leto's work, as evidenced here when he talks about the extent of the actor's commitment to the part:

"So during the process of figuring out the Joker and helping Jared create that character, I kinda had to say goodbye to Jared. There was a point when he went away and was replaced slowly and surely by the Joker. It was a fascinating process to watch. There was this really nice guy, a good guy with a lot of depth to him, he’s a very thoughtful person. The Joker is not someone you’d say is a really good guy."

This again chimes with what was said around release, although it's particularly interesting to hear Ayer talking about saying "goodbye", hinting at a close actor-director relationship and reaffirming that Leto really did do a lot of work on Suicide  Squad that we've yet to really see.

More footage from the Blu-ray like this will no doubt be released between now and its December 13 release, giving us a better idea of what happened during production (although don't be surprised if there's comparatively little on the film's editing conflicts). Before then, there's the digital release of the extended cut in just a few days to look forward to, which will be full of reveals of its own.

Suicide Squad will be available in Digital HD on November 15, 2016, and physical Blu-ray on December 13, 2016, in both theatrical and extended cuts.

Source: Collider