LOS ANGELES, April 6 — Jared Leto will star in The Outsider, an action thriller set in post-World War II Japan.

The Hollywood Reporter said yesterday that Leto will play the role of an imprisoned US soldier who is released with the help of his yakuza cellmate.

He then repays his debt while navigating Japan’s criminal underworld.

The Outsider will be Danish director Martin Zandvilet’s first English-language film, following the success of Land of Mine, a war drama about German soldiers forced to dig up landmines with their bare hands.

It is projected to start filming in the autumn.

Meanwhile, The Outsider will be Leto’s second major film role after 2013’s Dallas Buyers Club, for which he won an Oscar for best supporting actor.

He will also star as The Joker in the highly anticipated Suicide Squad, which will hit cinemas in August.