Thoughts on Jared Leto as an actor

I always used to say that my favorite uses of Jared Leto were his bit parts in stuff like American Psycho and Fight Club, where he gets axed to death and the shit beat out of him respectively. That said, I think the most I've genuinely ever enjoyed him is in The Little Things. It's such an awfully hammy performance that it has to be self-aware (right?  ), and I realized if there's a future that I want to see his career take, it would be to carve out a niche for himself in those deliriously unhinged roles that enhance otherwise subpar and dry genre fare. 

He's a very, very talented actor. I think his reputation is divisive mainly  because he can represent the most pretentious and obnoxious aspects of so-called "method acting", particularly with his behavior towards castmates on Suicide Squad, but for the most part he delivers focused and technically adept performances. I mean, what more do you need from an actor

If there is a valid criticism of him as an actor, it's despite being genetically blessed  enough to be a leading man, he isn't really one and by his own admission, maybe lacked the belief to take complete ownership over movies. But he's treated maybe like a bigger film star than he maybe is. He is pretty much a character actor with a huge star profile (helps that he is also a very succesful rock star, so his overall celebrity does make sense in that context). Guess having an Oscar also helps. It's possible that he is self-aware and realises that his style of acting, which can be very "busy" works better in smaller doses, than always carrying the whole thing. Tom Hardy, another "busy" actor, could probably do well to follow that model.

The Film Twitter backlash toward his performance in The Little Things feels a bit ridiculous, imho. He's very good in it, and it's a true supporting performance, unlike so many virtual lead roles being claimed as supporting.

I don't have any issue with his Oscar win, but he is super-lucky Dallas Buyers Club came out in 2013, because if it had come out even 3 or 4 years later, there is absolutely no way a straight male like Leto could have gotten away with playing a transgender woman without an almighty backlash that would probably have destroyed his Oscar chances.

Weird how quickly things no longer become easily acceptable practices in casting. Leto just snuck in with that role before it would have been widely percieved as insulting for him to even play it. Scarlett Johansson had to drop out of playing a transgender role in 2018, because of the intense backlash to the casting announcement. 

He sucks. He should get back to writing crappy music with 30 Seconds To Mars. I've never found him anything less than embarrassing as an actor.

I’m really excited for Gucci because the source material is so rich for the actors, and it should at least be nice to look at with its fashion and Italian settings. It could be a mess though with some of this cast. Gaga did great in A Star Is Born, imo, but a lot of that involved singing, so she could possibly be the Gaga from American Horror Story instead. 

And you’re absolutely right about Leto, on paper the role actually seems a good fit, but it could also be a glorious mess too knowing his ego. 

He's a hack and his "acting" often gets me on my nerves.

His performance is fine for what the movie asks of him, but it's a bad movie.

Don't forget the majesty that is a cornrowed Leto getting fucked up in Panic Room.

I think he's a good actor. Very willing to try something odd.

Is he a #metoo candidate? For a while it seemed like very unsavory stories were about to come out in waves, and yet...nothing. This is years now. Globe and SAG-nommed, and yet nothing. Was Jared Leto the first #metoo red herring, or is this just slow to come together? Virtually everybody else who had vague whisperings about abuse and this and that has had some hammer dropped.

Jared Leto is the living proof that Method Acting doesn't make you a better actor, but the opposite.

He singehandedly prevents BR2049 from being a great film.