Academy Award winning actor Jared Leto is packing on the pounds for his upcoming roles as the Joker in highly anticipated supervillain flick "Suicide Squad."

In a cover story, the 43-year-old Leto tells Billboard magazine, "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."

Over the years, Leto has become almost legendary for his ability to transform himself and totally morph into the characters he plays. For the film "Dallas Buyers Club," where he played a transgender AIDS patient, he lost a stunning amount of the weight and was awarded with his diligence with an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

"It's a great tool," he told the New York Times of his ability to adapt during a 2013 interview. "It changes the way you walk and talk and think and feel, the way people treat you, the choices you make."

For the 2007 film "Chapter 27," where he played the role of Mark David Chapman, the killer of famed Beatles' front man John Lennon, Leto gained more than 60 pounds. And as far back as in 2000, he practically starved himself to the point of being able to convincingly assume the role of a street junkie for the critically-acclaimed film "Requiem for a Dream."

According to People Magazine, playing the role of the Joker will only be Leto's second part in the last seven years. And he readily admits there's a physical and mental challenge that comes with accepting the role Heath Ledger once clearly excelled at.

"It can be an incredibly rewarding, but also destructive, thing to do," he said to Billboard. "Your body changes forever. I always try to talk people out of it," he said.

"Suicide Squad" will also star Will Smith, Margot Robbie and Cara Delevingne and is scheduled for release in 2016.