Jared Leto had a blast playing The Joker

Playing The Joker in Suicide Squad was the role of a lifetime for Oscar winner Jared Leto.

The Dallas Buyers Club star, 44, famously refused to break character while shooting the eagerly-anticipated supervillain movie, and he dove "pretty deep" to get into the character of the iconic DC Comics baddie.

"This character has been written about, acted, interpreted, reinterpreted, reimagined for 75 years. So, to be asked to take the baton and run with it was quite an honour and a responsibility so I dove pretty deep, you could say," he laughed to breakfast show Good Morning America.

"When you take a part like this, you become a detective, a journalist in a way, and I have to say it was a role of a lifetime," he said. "It was the most fun I think I've ever had."

Calling his interpretation of The Joker "sick, twisted, but I think very lovable," the actor also confessed he scared members of the public by practising his maniacal laugh while out walking.

Explaining his cackle took a lot of experimentation, he recalled, "I remember wandering the streets in New York and Toronto, where we were shooting, and I would just laugh out loud and see how people would react to it.

"When I started to hone in on this laugh, I realised it was the one that people would turn around and be like, 'What the hell is that?'"

Even though filming on the movie has long since finished, Leto confessed the character has yet to leave him. "You don't really say goodbye," he commented.

Talk of a possible sequel to Suicide Squad has yet to be confirmed, but he is confident fans will see more of his interpretation of the iconic comic book villain in future DC-related films.

"I think that The Joker's in there somewhere," he shared. "I feel like this film is an introduction to The Joker and I'm hopeful that we will see more to come."

Leto follows in the footsteps of Heath Ledger, whose iconic performance as The Joker in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight won him a posthumous Oscar in 2008 for Best Supporting Actor.

Jack Nicholson also portrayed Batman's nemesis in 1989's Batman, and Mark Hamill lent his voice for the role in Batman: The Animated Series.

Suicide Squad is released on 5 August (16).