‘The world stops’ when Jared Leto plays the Joker: 'Suicide Squad' director David AyerMar 27(AZINS) Jared Leto is picking up the mantle after Heath Ledger to portray Joker, one of the most menacing villains of DC Universe, in Suicide Squad. And according to director David Ayer, the world stops when he starts.

When the 30 Seconds to Mars frontman performs, according to Ayer, it makes hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

"When he steps onto the set the world stops. Everything stops. What he’s done is so powerful, so menacing, so palpable, you can feel him. The crew stops working and just watches him. I have to get everybody going again because he’s so fascinating,” David Ayer told Total Film.

Suicide Squad is a band of supervillains recruited by a secret government agency, headed by Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) and Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), to execute dangerous black ops missions in exchange for clemency.

Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Cara Delevingne, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and Jai Courtney lead the cast of the supervillain film.

The movie will hit the screens on August 5.