Lately, Jared Leto fans have been watching him more on the big screen than listening to his music on the radio. Now edgier than ever, Jared Leto has become a world renowned actor and has gained innumerous accolades, proving his immense talent and dedication to the craft of acting. Leto more often than not gets out of his comfort zone and consequently stuns audiences worldwide with his realistic transformations.
His performances go beyond acting. He becomes the character. Better yet, he transforms into the character. Considered by many movie critics to be in the same realm as the likes of Joaquin Phoenix and Heath Ledger, Leto's talent is undeniable. Even the Academy Awards jury would agree. With a full repertoire of transformative acting performances, he has definitely abandoned the bad boy dreamboat roles and decided to delve within the method acting realm.
Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
Jared Leto's performance on Dallas Buyers Club is truly jaw dropping. He plays Rayon, a HIV-positive transsexual with a drug problem. This role showcased Leto's method acting approach as he removed his eyebrows and dropped 30 pounds to truly become Rayon.
In fact, during the shooting of this movie, several people mentioned that it was only months after the shoot that they actually met Jared Leto. He went a step further, and stayed in character for the 25 days of production. Rayon was such a remarkable character that the Academy Awards recognized it gave Leto an Oscar for best Supporting Actor. If you haven't seen it, this movie is worth the watch.
Chapter 27 (2007)
According to movie critics, the most outstanding aspect of Chapter 27 is Jared Leto's committed performance. He plays a mentally disturbed man called Mark David Chapman, the guy who assassinated John Lennon. Once again Leto's acting outshines the movie itself. Bloated and deranged, Leto becomes Chapman.
Leto packed 67 pounds for this role and rumors say that by the end of filming, the extra weight he gained, had taken such a toll that he could barely walk on set. By physically transforming into Chapman, Leto says that it was easier to become him. Besides gaining weight for this role, Leto was also able to tap into the mind of this killer by listening to his tapes in prison. With that in mind, the actor took his acting to the next level by being able to emulate the character's eerily Southern accent.
Requiem For A Dream (2000)
Perhaps not as physically transformative as his previous roles, while playing Harry Goldfarb, Leto manages to showcase what method acting really is. Requiem for a Dream follows the life of three heroin addicts as they roam around Brooklyn trying to get their next fix.
For this role, Leto lost a substantial amount of weight. For him, losing weight was more significant than how he would physically look. By restricting his food intake, it put him in a place of constant craving. In order to get into the mind of the character, he also spent a lot of time hanging out with junkies in downtown New York.
House of Gucci (2021)
In House of Gucci, Leto is physically unrecognizable. Any hint of his real self is nonexistence when he played Paolo Gucci, a flamboyant, eccentric, balding Italian fashion designer with a chip on his shoulder and accidentally managed to buy himself out of the Gucci family.
Like all the others roles, he once again transforms into the character in all aspects. In fact, Leto mentioned that he truly became a traditional chubby Italian man, eating pasta and consuming olive oil as if it were water. He took a deep dive into the Gucci's family history and took a deeper look into who Paolo was. Also, on set he asked a lot from the makeup artists. They worked extra hours in order to fully reshape Leto into Paolo.
Suicide Squad (2016)
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If none of Leto's previous transformations appalled you, maybe this one will. After losing and gaining a dramatic amount of weight in his past roles, Leto went even deeper when playing the Joker on Suicide Squad. In this instance, he also changed his look.
To begin, he bleached his hair green, shaved his eyebrows off (once again) and used silver teeth, but transformation into the super villain went beyond his appearance. Rumors say that he would surprise his co-stars by sending gag gifts. He explained that he did that to create a dynamic/spontaneous environment and that the Joker was someone who did not really respect people's personal space. So, what other way to do that than to send "used condoms" to Margot Robbie? Not sure, but that was a brave effort.