Report Claims Jared Leto Brought Joker Energy to the He-Man Set, Blood Pranks Spooked the Cast

If you thought Jared Leto had calmed down after his Joker days, think again. The bloke's up to his old tricks on the set of Masters of the Universe, where he's playing Skeletor. And once again, he's made enough of a scene behind the scenes to get the crew, cast, and now the internet talking about his, shall we say, 'unique' approach to acting.

Method Madness Returns

Travis Knight, who's directing this new stab at the He-Man franchise, recently let slip a few tales from the film's shoot. Apparently, every day with Leto-as-Skeletor was a bit of a dice roll. Knight summed up the on-set vibe like this:

"He would do something unexpected every single day. In ways that would delight me, that would horrify me, that would make me laugh. But that’s part of the character."

Knight seems both amused and maybe a bit alarmed, if we're honest.

The Blood Smears (And Not Just On His Reputation)

Here's the particularly odd bit. Leto spent his workdays suited up in this elaborate muscle-bound Skeletor get-up, complete with all the prosthetics you'd expect. But Skeletor's face? That's being handled in post-production with a digital skull, so Leto's own mug wasn't going to be on display at all.

That was apparently too normal for Leto. Not content to be recognisable beneath that much latex, the actor decided to slather his face every day in this red, blood-like gunk, so the rest of the cast wouldn't see Jared-bloody-Leto staring back at them. Knight says it was 'smeary' and genuinely terrifying, and that the point was to get his scene partners to see something monstrous—anything but the man himself. Quite the commitment, if a little unsettling before lunch.

According to Knight, Leto wasn't just mucking about—he was determined to make Skeletor 'swing for the fences' and actually haunt moviegoers in their dreams for years to come.

Joker Déjà Vu

Honestly, if any of this is giving you flashbacks to those odd news stories from the Suicide Squad set, you aren’t alone. Back then, Leto courted controversy for sending a dead pig to the cast (yes, really) and allegedly gifting used condoms and something called 'anal beads' to his co-stars—including Will Smith, Margot Robbie, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje.

• Joker era antics: Sent literal animal corpses and some deeply questionable adult paraphernalia to castmates
• Skeletor era antics: More blood than a butcher’s apron, this time all over his own face

Leto's always said it helps him get under the character's skin—or lack thereof, in Skeletor's case. Whether that’s brilliant commitment or just a bit much depends on your own tolerance for chaos on set.