Jared Leto has revealed he's gaining weight to play The Joker in the upcoming Suicide Squad movie.

Loading

Speaking to Billboard magazine, Leto branded the character a "beautiful disaster" before saying how comics are evolving to include characters that are almost Shakespearean in their scope."I'm trying to gain a lot of weight," he told the outlet while eating vegan tacos. "It means I have to eat every couple of hours -- and I'm terrible at eating a lot."The opportunity to take on this nearly Shakespearean character -- that's what graphic novels and comic books are becoming, right? This beautiful disaster of a character -- what a big challenge."David Ayer will direct Suicide Squad, which also stars Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney, and Cara Delevingne. Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis and Jesse Eisenberg are also in various stages of negotiations to join the cast. Filming begins in April, with a planned release date of August 5, 2016.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK News Editor. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on Twitter