Suicide Squad star lifts the lid on intense, unscripted scenes with Jared Leto’s Joker

Ike Barinholtz says he was blindsided when Jared Leto’s Joker suddenly went off-script on the Suicide Squad set — an improvised curveball he still can’t shake.

Jared Leto 's Joker era just will not stop generating stories, and honestly, this new one from Ike Barinholtz is both funny and kind of brutal if you've ever had to improv through a scene you did not ask for. It also lines up with everything we heard about how unpredictable that set could get.

Ike Barinholtz on the day Joker got... very method

Barinholtz, who played prison officer Captain Hunter Griggs in Suicide Squad, recently told a behind-the-scenes story on his own podcast, Funny You Should Ask with Ike Barinholtz. He was chatting with guest Seth Meyers when he brought up a take with Leto that went off-script fast.

In the scene, the Joker is supposed to menace Griggs. Leto stayed in character but was apparently polite between lines. Then, mid-take, he ad-libbed something that forced Barinholtz to either roll with it or break. He chose to roll with it.

'Uh oh, did someone p*** their pants?' ... I’m a yes-ander, so I was, like, 'Yes.'

Barinholtz called it a rough improv prompt to lob at someone, which, yeah, accurate. The story slots right into the long list of tales about Leto's Joker choices blurring the line between the script and whatever felt right in the moment.

A quick flashback to peak Joker promo energy

Back in the run-up to release, Leto leaned into the aura on social too. On October 27, 2015, he posted: 'I'm not gonna kill you, I'm just gonna... #SuicideSquad' on Twitter, teasing the performance while everyone was still trying to guess what this version of the character would be.

Meanwhile, Leto is now the big bad in Masters of the Universe

Separate lane, same chaos magnet. Leto moved from Gotham to Eternia to play Skeletor in Amazon MGM's live-action Masters of the Universe reboot, and the studio did not exactly lowball him. Per Puck News, he earned more than $5 million for the role. Amazon MGM didn't comment on that number, but the rest of the production details paint a picture of a very big swing.

• Reported payday: more than $5 million for Leto to play Skeletor (via Puck News); Amazon MGM offered no public comment on the figure
• Overall budget: roughly $175 million
• The look: extensive CGI and prosthetics to build out Skeletor
• The deal: compensation reportedly included promotional commitments tied to release
• First look: a new promo featuring Skeletor surfaced on May 24, 2026, shared by DiscussingFilm

Whether it's the Joker or Skeletor, Leto's process keeps people talking. Barinholtz's story is just the latest reminder that when he dives in, everyone around him has to be ready to swim.

What did you think of Barinholtz's story? Was that a hilarious save or a nightmare day at work?