Ever since his big screen debut in the 2006 actioner Smokin’ Aces, Common has emerged as one of Hollywood’s best musician-to-actor converts, and he’s got some major projects coming down the pike. Next year, Common will pop up in John Wick 2 as one of the guys crazy enough to pick a fight with John Wick, but before first we’ll get to see him in Suicide Squad as Monster T, a mysterious character who’s in league with The Joker. After the less-than-stellar response to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, fan hopes are high for David Ayer‘s villain-fronted comic adaptation (and so are Warner Bros’, considering the studio just dropped millions in tonal reshoots).

While speaking with Common for Barbershop: The Next Cut, Christina Radish took the opportunity to ask the actor about his time on set and working alongside Jared Leto‘s infamously method take on The Joker.

When asked why he wanted to be a part of Suicide Squad, the actor singled out his confidence in director David Ayer’s ability to make the film something special, praising the film as unlike any other comic book movie out there.

Common: I just knew that world was a gritty comic book world that I haven’t seen. I feel like, with so many comic book movies being made, I wanted to be a part of one of the ones that is special. Obviously, you want the box office and those things, but I want to be a part of the special movies. And if I’m going to be a part of a comic movie, I don’t want it to just be the same story, where you can just place the new name and it’s the same story that you see. I’ve gotta say, one of the major reasons I knew it would be something cool and could be special is (director) David Ayer. I love his work. I got to work with him on Street Kings, but then I watched End of Watch and the dude is good, man. I was excited about working with him, being a movie with Will Smith and Viola Davis and Jared Leto, and playing opposite The Joker. I was like, “God, this is going to be exciting!” And I had a couple days to leave Barbershop to go do that, and it was funny ‘cause when I came back, there were pictures from the internet of my character with all these tattoos on his head and I was looking like Dennis Rodman. But, it worked out and I’m grateful to be a part of it. I think Suicide Squad could be a story told in a new way.

Common confirmed that he’s not a part of the Suicide Squad reshoots, but spoke about his experience working with Leto, whose on-set antics (including sending a rat to co-star Margot Robbie) have become the stuff of internet legend, and why he’s totally in support of Leto’s super method approach to the character.

I believe in that. Whatever way is necessary for you to be that person, so that you can let go and see The Joker, I love that. From the time I stepped on the set, I was my character and he was his character. There was no in between. It wasn’t like, “Hey, man, how’s your family doing?” I saw him at the Oscars, and I saw Margot Robbie, too. It was almost the first time meeting each other. With Margot, it was a little different. But I was standing in my space, being the character, so I love that Jared Leto was doing that. The scene we have, we definitely were totally improving a lot of stuff, with some of it. Some of it, we got to improv on, but I don’t know what they’ll keep. When you’re in that space, where another actor is that person, you can just live and let it be. I was really grateful. The was one of my most fun and invigorating experiences, as an actor, with the scene I had with Jared Leto, or The Joker.

We’ll see how all that commitment paid off when Suicide Squad arrives in theaters on August 5th. For more on the film: