Some may think that Jared Leto’s skinny figure is perfect for The Joker, but apparently Suicide Squad director David Ayer wants him to bulk up! In a new interview with Billboard, Leto revealed that he’s trying to gain weight for the role.

“Do you mind if I eat a little?” Jared Leto asks Billboard during an interview for our new cover story, out Friday, Feb. 20. “I’m trying to gain a lot of weight. It means I have to eat every couple of hours — and I’m terrible at eating a lot.” (Case in point: Leto was eating vegan tacos during the interview, which are hardly the fattiest food on the market.)

Leto also told Billboard that the increasing complexity of graphic novels is what drew him to The Joker:

“The opportunity to take on this nearly Shakespearean character — that’s what graphic novels and comic books are becoming, right?” Leto says. “[He’s] this beautiful disaster of a character — what a big challenge.”

Check out some photos in the gallery below that were taken of Leto earlier this month:

Photos by Terry Richardson

Gaining weight won’t be the only physical transformation he goes through for The Joker. Earlier this year Leto teased that he’d be chopping off his long hair as well.

SOURCE: Billboard