Gay&Night Januari 2014

Interview / Jared Leto
Returning to acting after
nearly six years away from
Hollywood to concentrate
on his award-winning band
Thirty Seconds to Mars,
Jared Leto (41) plays in
Dallas Buyers Club alongside
Matthew McConaughey
and Jennifer Garner. Leto,
known to have a taste for the
slightly unorthodox parts,
might have taken on his most
challenging role yet. In his
latest lm, he portrays HIV
positive transgender woman
Rayon, who partners up with
fellow patient Ron Woodrof
(McConaughey) to sell illegal
HIV drugs. Interesting fact:
Leto didn’t break character
once, on or off set, during the
entire production.
Apparently, you stayed in
character for the entire lm.
Yes, I was. How could you not be?
How could you leave that beautiful
creature?
Do you always do that?
I’ve done it a million times, but not on
all films. I worked with David Fincher
on Panic Room and I certainly wasn’t
in character for that film. It was a
very long shoot and I just didn’t think
it was a necessity. I try and stay as
close as humanly possible and with
my role in Dallas Buyers Club, there
were so many characteristics, so many
attributes that were miles away from
the way I live my daily life, even if
you just talk about the voice, the
mannerisms, every time the camera
cut, I couldn’t just drop all that and
then every time they said action, pick
it back up and remember. It didn’t
work like that, so I just chose to stay
there.
So how do you say goodbye
to the character once the
lming’s done?
That’s a good question. It’s kind of
bittersweet because you are saying
goodbye to an enormous amount of
work, but you are also getting back
to yourself. There was a story about
the first woman who sailed around
the world alone, a French woman, and
they asked her the most difficult thing
about the journey. She said the most
difficult thing was when she returned
to France and she had to step foot on
land again, because she had gotten so
used to that challenge, so there’s a bit
of that feeling at times.
Rumour has it, you had to
get down to 116 pounds in
just three weeks. How did
you pull that off?
I got down to about 114 and then
I stopped counting. I lost over 30
pounds, but it didn’t matter at that
point. I have lost weight before, for
Requiem for a Dream, and I gained
60 pounds for a movie called Chapter
27, so I have a 90-pound difference
between that one and this one. The
weight is interesting, because first
off, it provides a certain amount
of fragility, but it also affects your
energy and the way you walk, talk,
laugh and breathe. It’s a great asset,
to tell you the truth, and it’s also a
commitment you can’t run away from.
It brings with it an incredible focus.
Did you ever cheat on
your diet?
One time I came home for
Thanksgiving and I told myself,
‘Man, on Thanksgiving, I am going
to eat. I am going to cheat one day,
and I am going to eat, damn it’. I eat
really healthy, so I was excited for my
Tofukey, and my cranberry sauce and
stuffing and all that, I love that meal.
So I get home and I’m with my mum,
my brother, some family, and I go to
eat and I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t
bring myself to do it. I felt too guilty,
so I took one bite and put the rest
away. It was quite an experience, I will
never forget it.
What do you like about your
character, Rayon?
Her sense of humor, her compassion, I
think she’s kind of a hot mess.
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