Suicide Squad Actor Reveals “Rough Improv” With Jared Leto’s Joker

Improvisation got weird between one of Suicide Squad’s supporting actors and Jared Leto as he was playing The Joker.

Ike Barinholtz appeared in the star-studded 2016 DC movie as Captain Hunter Griggs, an officer at the Belle Reve prison complex where the Task Force X operatives were kept incarcerated. Griggs ended up being forced to work for Joker so that the cackling criminal could make contact with Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn. That Suicide Squad scene where Griggs came face-to-face with Joker for the first time led to an awkward moment that Barinholtz recently recalled.

On his podcast Funny You Should Ask with Ike Barinholtz, the title host told Seth Meyers about how, during the filming of Suicide Squad, there was a moment when Leto improvised asking Barinholtz if he peed himself as he was being straddled. Barinholtz wasn’t particularly pleased by Leto going off script like this, saying:

I remember I had to do this scene with him, and he was actually like nice even though he was in character, but he was supposed to be menacing me in the scene. So I was acting scared, you know? I was like, “Oh no, please…” And at some point, he’s straddling me, and he’s like, “Uh oh, did someone piss their pants?” And I’m a yes-ander, so I was, like, “Yes.” That’s a rough improv to say to someone. Like, “Oh, someone shit themselves.” It’s not cool.

Leto’s Joker had no issue violating personal space, as evidenced by how he greeted Griggs while his henchmen watched. While it’s never explicitly shown or even stated what Joker did to Griggs, given the Clown Prince of Crime’s reputation, one could certainly envision a “piss their pants” scenario unfolding. In any case, Griggs ultimately caved to Joker’s demands and passed along a phone to Harley before the Task Force X mission began, to which she told him, “You’re so screwed.”

Though Suicide Squad was Barinholtz’s only time appearing in the DCEU, he did return to the DC space by voicing Lex Luthor in The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, then Harvey Dent/Two-Face in Batman: The Audio Adventures. Barinholtz, Leto, and Robbie’s Suicide Squad castmates included Will Smith as Deadshot, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag Sr., Jay Hernandez as El Diablo, and Karen Fukuhara as Katana. David Ayer directed the feature and was credited as the sole writer, though Geoff Johns wrote the material filmed during reshoots.

Following five months after Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad was met with similarly negative critical reception. ScreenRant’s Suicide Squad review described the movie as “lively,” but ultimately “undermined by plot holes and uneven execution of action, character, and comedy.” However, it was a commercial success, making over $749 million worldwide. Suicide Squad also won the Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.

Barinholtz will next be seen reprising Sal Saperstein in The Studio season 2, which Apple TV hasn’t set a release date for yet. He also created the Netflix series Running Point, which is returning for season 3. Leto can currently be seen playing Skeletor in Masters of the Universe.