CinemaCon Report: Will Smith Describes 'Suicide Squad' Tone, Finally 'Meets' Jared Leto

Jai Courtney, Cara Delevingne, Joel Kinnaman, Will Smith, Jay Hernandez, Adam Beach, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Karen Fukuhara, Margot Robbie and Jared Leto of ‘Suicide Squad’ (Todd Williamson/Getty Images)

In between Batman v Superman’s dreary vibe and reports (later denied) that Suicide Squad was undergoing reshoots to add more humor, the tone of the upcoming DC Comics antihero assemblage has become a hot topic. Will Squad be that much lighter than BvS? Is it as funny as the first trailers suggest?

Related: 'Suicide Squad’ Director Adds His Two Cents to Reshoot Explanations

“It’s definitely concentrated on a certain amount of levity set into a serious, harsh reality,” star Will Smith, who plays marksman Deadshot, told Yahoo Movies on the Warner Bros. press line at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. “So what [director] David Ayer did that was really good is he didn’t allow us to be in a comic-book movie. You’re playing this character, but this character has real ideas, has real feelings. So he set us firmly into this authentic world, but then allowed for the comedy.

"It shifts, it moves around. It is really violent, and then there’s beautiful scenes. Deadshot has a daughter. It covers a lot of ground.”

Related: Joker, Harley Quinn, Batman, and the New 'Suicide Squad’ Trailer: Teasing Out the Possible Plotlines

Smith stressed that Suicide Squad is not in the same vein as February’s breakout hit Deadpool. “It’s not a full-out comedy. It is a superhero movie in its definition. There’s heavy action to it. We shot real hardcore military war-type action. But it’s also really funny. In one scene, Boomerang [Jai Courtney] sits down and has a beer while we’re fighting.”

Given its blend of laughs and bloodletting, there couldn’t be a better übervillain for the film than the Joker, played by Oscar winner Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club), who went fully method for the role. Smith even said in October that he “never actually met” his costar, despite them sharing scenes and working together for six months, since Leto was never out of character and barely said a word to Smith.

Smith said he finally got to “meet” Leto two days ago, and the pair reunited at CinemaCon, where Warner Bros. brought out nearly the film’s entire cast. “It’s the first time I’ve ever seen him not as the Joker,” Smith said. “He’s a nice guy! He’s not the kind of guy that’ll send a rat and a dead pig to your rehearsal,” he added in reference to the “gifts” Leto bestowed his rival actors in the heroic Squad.

Related: 'Suicide Squad’ Star Jared Leto Compares Playing the Joker to Tackling Hamlet

“That was the craziest s–t, dude,” Smith laughed. “He was all in. All in. He really raised the bar for the rest of us. We were having such a great time. And then we saw Jared’s first [screen] test, and we were like, 'Uh, Jared is taking this s–t really seriously. We need to stop f–king around.”

Suicide Squad, which also stars Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flag), Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Cara Delevinge (Enchantress), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Killer Croc), and Adam Beach (Slipnot), opens Aug. 5.