“I can’t do this”: when Jared Leto shoved a casting director and still got the role
Considering how talented he is, it’s remarkable just how many people can’t stand Jared Leto.
Not only is he an excellent musician and vocalist for his band Thirty Seconds to Mars, but he’s also appeared in some of the most acclaimed movies of the past three decades. He’s an Oscar winner, for crying out loud, and yet his name is constantly dragged through the mud and used as a punchline. This isn’t me defending him by any means, I despise him as much as the next person, but it’s just how interesting how little impact all of his accomplishments have had on his public persona.
One of the many, many things that people take issue with is his habit of taking things too far. Much has been made over the years of his pompous dedication to method acting, especially on the set of Suicide Squad. To get into character as the Joker, Leto sent his co-stars a number of disturbing ‘gifts’, including bullets, a live rat, and a used condom. As anyone who saw Suicide Squad will tell you, this insane tactic was not worth it.
Some examples of the actor’s overenthusiasm have come straight from his own mouth. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Leto recalled one specific audition where things got out of hand.
“I remember auditioning for Terrence Malick, and the casting director upended a couch, and we were supposed to hide behind it and shoot imaginary guns!” he recalled, “In that audition, I literally stood up, took a few imaginary bullets and shoved [the casting director]. I said, ‘I can’t do this. This is like a bad high school play’, and I walked out. And then Terrence called me…he’s the most gentle and amazing guy in the world, and he’s like: ‘Uh, Jared? I’d love you to be in my film’.”
The film in question turned out to be The Thin Red Line, released in 1998, a full 20 years after Malick’s previous effort, which follows a group of US soldiers fighting in Japan during World War II.
The all-star cast is led by Sean Penn, with supporting performances from George Clooney, John C Reilly, Woody Harrelson, John Travolta, and many more, and Leto plays William Whyte, a young lieutenant who meets a sticky end early in the movie, but despite his limited screen time, The Thin Red Line is so strong overall that it qualifies as one of the best films he’s ever appeared in.
Leto really maximises his minutes, as after ordering two of his men to scout out an enemy location, he is horrified when he watches them get mercilessly gunned down by a Japanese rifleman, and the look of shame and anguish on his face conveys more emotion than any monologue ever could, which just shows how exceptional he can be when he wants to, thus making his obnoxious antics even more irritating.
Stories like this, where actors are ruined for outlandish and even dangerous behaviour, do no good whatsoever. Leto probably thought this story would inspire the next generation of self-obsessed a-holes to try something similar when, in reality, he was lucky not to get arrested.
