Suicide Squad's Margot Robbie: Jared Leto's now more petrifying when out of his Joker make-up

The Oscar-winning actor is more terrifying in normal life than costume, apparently

Jared Leto in Warner Bros' Suicide Squad (Warner Bros / YouTube)

Jared Leto's Joker is going to be suitably nefarious in Suicide Squad, according to his co-star Margot Robbie.

Robbie, who plays the iconic villain's "absolutely nuts" on-off lover and accomplice Harley Quinn in the upcoming movie, has promised fans that Leto will be "cool and confronting" in the famous role.

"What he's doing with the character is so cool," she told the New York Daily News. "At first it was kind of confronting [to be up close] but now I'm so used to it. I think if I ever saw him out of make-up now I would be really confused.

"I saw him out of make-up once and I was actually petrified of him. I was too scared to go up and didn't know who that person was, and when he got back into his makeup I was far more comfortable."

Leto's performance will undoubtedly be compared to that of the late Heath Ledger, who won a posthumous Oscar for his portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight. Judging by the first trailer and pictures he's certainly going to be scary enough.

The film's storyline follows a group of villains who take on dangerous black op missions for the government on the proviso that their sentences be reduced.

Suicide Squad reaches cinemas on 6 August 2016.