Jared Leto's method approach to his role as the Joker in "Suicide Squad" is already the stuff of legend, and his costar Viola Davis has admitted that the creepy gifts he offered the cast initially "terrified" her -- and then motivated her to put her all into her role.

Davis, who plays government official Amanda Waller (a.k.a. the assembler of the titular band of villains) in the flick, revealed in an interview with Vanity Fair that she was pretty intimidated by Leto's bizarre behavior when rehearsals first began.

"The Joker -- he did some bad things, Jared Leto did," Davis recalled of early days on the "Suicide" set. "He gave some really horrific gifts. He had a henchman who came into the rehearsal room ... with a dead pig and plopped it on the table, and then he walked out. And that was our introduction to Jared Leto."

Naturally, Davis said, this made her a little uneasy.

"Now, I'm terrified, just as a person, thinking, 'Is he crazy?'" the actress recalled. "But the second part was, 'Oh, s--t, I've gotta have my stuff together.' You talk about commitment, and then he sends Margot Robbie a black rat. It was still alive, in a box. She screamed. And then she kept it."

Sounds like Leto definitely has the whole twisted thing down. We can't wait to see him, Davis, and the rest of the skwad in action.

"Suicide Squad" hits theaters on August 5.

[via: Vanity Fair]

Photo credit: Warner Bros.