Playing the Joker onscreen means stepping into some big shoes  left by  Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger. So how is Jared Leto preparing  for his  role as the iconic Batman villain in 
Suicide Squad? By getting bigger.
 "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.)
  Last December, Warner Bros. announced Leto would take on the Batman   bad guy in a movie starring DC Comics supervillains. And he's not the   only A-lister in the film: Will Smith also stars as Deadshot, alongside   Tom Hardy as Rick Flagg.
 The 
30 Seconds to Mars frontman, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of the transgender Rayon in
 Dallas Buyers Club, explains the increasing complexity of graphic novels drew him to this project.
 "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."
 Read Billboard's full cover story about Jared Leto -- and fellow musician-actors including 
Jennifer Hudson and 
Jack Black -- on Friday, Feb. 20.