Just in case you thought that the upcoming “Suicide Squad” film would be a light and cheerful superhero movie, think again. It seems that the film is so dark that the movie set requires an on-set therapist.
“Suicide Squad” follows a team of supervillains and features such heavy performances from its cast that director David Ayer has brought a “therapist” on set.
Adam Beach, who plays Slipknot in the film, told E! News, “We kind of have like a therapist on board if you fall off the wagon and really are villainous.” This therapist is a friend of Ayer’s and is on set to help the actors make sure they “have (their) ground”.
The reason behind the on-set “therapist” is Ayer’s desire to make the “Suicide Squad” as real as possible, according to Beach. “David Ayer is about realism. So if your character is tormented, he wants you to torment yourself. He wants the real thing,” Beach said.
“Suicide Squad” is so real that some actors, like Jared Leto (the Joker), it means sending castmates dark and disturbing gifts. According to Beach, Jared Leto sent co-stars Margot Robbie, Will Smith and the rest of the cast a live rat, a dead hog, and some bullets.
We think it’s a great idea to have an on-set therapist just waiting to talk to people who need help though. This is largely because we’re all well aware of what happened to “The Dark Knight” star the late Heath Ledger, who died from an accidental overdose of prescription medications including painkillers, anti-anxiety drugs and sleeping pills.
Back then, it was widely believed that Heath had gotten so into character as the Joker that he couldn’t get out of the “darkness”. His death occurred during editing of “The Dark Knight” and in the midst of filming his last role as Tony in “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”. Needless to say, it cast a somber shadow over the subsequent promotion of the $185 million Batman production.
He went on to receive numerous posthumous accolades for his critically acclaimed performance in the film, including the Academy Award for “Best Supporting Actor”, amongst others.
“Suicide Squad” will hit theatres 5th August 2016. The cast also includes Cara Delevingne, Jai Courtney, Scott Eastwood, Ben Affleck, Viola Davis, Joel Kinnaman, Jai Courtney and Common.
Don’t forget to quickly check out some fun facts about the Joker as well as Harley Quinn to best prepare you for the film 😉
Sources: E! News via HuffPost Ent, Telegraph UK, Heath Ledger’s Wiki / Featured image from E! News.
