Who is the worst method actor of all time?
The term ‘method actor’ has become a catch-all for anyone who insists on staying in character between takes on a film set. More specifically, however, it involves connecting with a character’s inner motivations and experiences on a personal level, delving beyond the words on the page to create a complete understanding of the role. This could mean learning the trumpet before playing Miles Davis or conjuring a painful childhood memory to connect with a character’s trauma. The concept dates back to the early 20th century, but it didn’t take off in the US until actors like Marlon Brando and James Dean brought it to Hollywood.
There is nothing inherently annoying about method acting. It often involves actors staying in character between takes or even throughout the duration of a production, but as long as they keep it to themselves for the most part, it’s a small price to pay for a masterful performance. But there are stars who inevitably take it too far. There are the amusing but unobtrusive examples, such as Marlon Brando dressing up in drag to play a female character in an animated movie that never saw the light of day, and the obnoxious examples, such as Shia LaBeouf refusing to shower, pulling out his teeth, slicing his face open, and converting to Christianity for Fury.
Of all the profoundly irritating instances of method acting, however, there is one name that rises to the surface like a rotten egg time and again: Jared Leto. To be the worst method actor of all time, one must truly exert. You cannot simply be a bad person. You have to really make an effort. Leto has outdone himself repeatedly and to the great misfortune of his colleagues. Crucially, his efforts are not worth it. There is no question of the ends justifying the means because the means are never notable enough to be justified by any level of shenanigans.
The stories of Leto’s excesses could fill a novel. According to his Suicide Squad co-star Viola Davis, he introduced himself to his castmates by having a dead pig delivered to set and spent the rest of the production sending “really horrific gifts”. These allegedly included used condoms and anal beads. On the set of the much-reviled Morbius, he used crutches, which wreaked havoc on the schedule until someone suggested he take his bathroom breaks in a wheelchair and have an assistant push him around. He graciously complied.
Then, there was his role in Blade Runner 2049, in which he played a blind tech billionaire. Instead of, you know, acting, Leto showed up to a screen test wearing opaque lenses. Director Denis Villeneuve was understandably surprised.
“We all heard stories about Jared, how he transforms into the characters, but even this didn’t prepare me for what was to come,” he said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “He entered the room, and he could not see at all. He was walking with an assistant, very slowly.”
Leto, of course, required the assistant to be with him for the duration of the shoot. Villeneuve cast this moment in a positive light, comparing the Five Seconds to Mars frontman to Jesus Christ, but reading between the lines, it’s pretty easy to see how this behaviour might not have been spiritual to all those who witnessed it.
The obvious solution to these highly annoying outbursts of acting would be for directors to cast only Leto as a kind, mild-mannered, and perhaps financially generous character. The reason no one does is that he obviously isn’t a good enough actor to pull it off. Leto deserves the title of worst method actor both because of the antics he gets up to in order to inhabit a role and their complete lack of efficacy. An impressive feat.
