Playing the Joker is a rather tough adventure as per the experiences of Jack Nicholson and the late Heath Ledger.

Jared Leto, the latest person tasked with the job for the upcoming "Suicide Squad," is not dispelling this notion. The actor, who is gracing the cover of Empire, in full Joker regalia, spoke to the magazine about the difficult experience it was to embody such a psychopathic villain.

"There was definitely a period of...detachment," Leto explains according to ComicBookMovie.com.

"I took a pretty deep dive. But this was a unique opportunity and I couldn't imagine doing it another way. It was fun, playing those psychological games. But at the same time it was very painful, like giving birth out of my pr**k hole."

The report notes the actor did not break character during the entire shoot and was constantly pulling pranks on his fellow cast mates, even tormenting them. Some examples of his behavior included random phone calls at unexpected times of the day.

Leto also apparently read literature on shamans and spent a great deal of his time listening to 1920s gospel music. He said he saw the character as older than most expected and was constantly looking to break new ground. But that will be a tall order, especially after many compared Leto's voice and laugh at the end of the recent trailer with that of the late Ledger's performance.

Ledger's portrayal received universal praise and was often noted as the highlight of Christopher Nolan's universally praised "The Dark Knight." In that version, Ledger played up a number of the character's sinister qualities and even joked about the clichéd origin story, essentially annulling it altogether. Moreover, the Joker, who had around 40 minutes of screen time in the two-and-a-half hour film, remained a powerful presence felt in every single scene. The performance was Ledger's last complete role: The actor was found dead on Jan. 22, 2008. He won a posthumous Oscar for his portrayal at the Oscars over a year later.

Who knows if Leto matches Ledger's famed portrayal, but perhaps it is best to let "Suicide Squad" director David Ayer have the final word on what he saw of Leto's performance.

"There's a power to that character, and by some freaking miracle, through the incredible things Jared has done and the photography and all the other millions of things that went into it, we've cooked up something transcendent. He's scary."