Oscars Q&A: Jared Leto: ‘I Didn’t Know If I’d Ever Make a Film Again’
Ever since “Dallas Buyers Club” premiered in Toronto two months ago, the Oscar buzz has been building for Jared Leto, who plays a drug-addicted transgender woman with AIDS and a way with blush and lipstick.
Leto’s Rayon partners with Matthew McConaughey’s rodeo rider-turned-activist Ron Woodroof to bring potentially healing but illegal drugs to HIV-positive Texans in the wild west of the epidemic, the 1980s. However, the Thirty Seconds to Mars musician, 41, best known for TV’s “My So-Called Life” and Darren Aronofsky’s “Requiem for a Dream,” hadn’t acted for film in six years. While waiting in the wings to play a gig in Frankfurt on a successful world tour, the singer-songwriter paused to tell Yahoo Movies how Rayon lured him back in front of the camera.
Question: Jared, what reservations did you have taking this role as Rayon?
Jared Leto: None. None.
Q: Then why the long absence from movies?
J.L.: I had some hesitation about making a film. I hadn’t made one in six years. I didn’t know if I’d ever make a film again. [He takes a deep breath.] I’d made films for a number of years and I was pursuing other things, mostly Thirty Seconds to Mars. We’ve had more success than we ever dreamed possible, playing in arenas and stadiums around the world and making our dreams a reality. I was content and challenged and inspired and doing a lot of work with film. I was behind the camera a bit. I made a short film, a documentary, music videos, commercials.
[Related: Thirty Seconds to Mars Talk Oscars at iHeart]
Q: So, acting was never your first love?
J.L.: I started out studying to be an artist and painter. That’s what I thought I would be until I discovered photography and film while I was in arts school. I was at the School of Visual Arts at the time and quickly dropped out because I wanted to make art. I was too impatient to remain at the school.
Q: What helped change your mind and accept the part in ‘Dallas Buyers Club?’
J.L.: In some ways it was a test. I wanted to see if there was anything left in that world for me. I also fell in love with the role, with Rayon. It was an incredibly gifted group of people and I wanted to be part of it. I suppose in some ways I was seduced and wanted to experiment and see what it would be like to return to the screen.
Watch Jared Leto in action in a clip from “Dallas Buyers Club”:
Q: Did playing Rayon change the way you look at women?
J.L.: I have a newfound respect for what it takes to be a lady — and sometimes it takes a village. It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it: the waxing, the heels, the eyelashes, the wigs the skirts, the tights, off with the eyebrows, and on with the eyebrows.
Q: Was Matthew McConaughey’s involvement a factor?
J.L.: McConaughey was a big contributor. It was a definite plus that he was starring in the film. He’s a guy who’s been doing some phenomenal work. What an opportunity to get in the ring with somebody of his caliber. I thought that he and I could do something special.
Q: The characters the two of you play are opposites, yet complementary — Rayon’s flamingo pink, Ron’s green.
J.L.: I think they are definitely on opposites sides of the color wheel. They’re definitely flip sides of the coin. The thing of being on either side of the coin is that they both are very much a part of each other. They do speak to each other in a really polarizing way: the way they interact, the way they connect. They’re from completely different sides of humanity: One is a f–king cowboy from Texas, the other is a drag queen. In some ways it’s like the movie “Midnight Cowboy,” with Dustin Hoffman’s street urchin and Jon Voight’s slightly naïve cowboy. The characters are so different they somehow fit.
[Related: Matthew McConaughey Talks Sharing Jared Leto's Pink Robe]
Q: When we talked to McConaughey in Toronto, he had high praise for you: “He got rid of all the s–ts and giggles, all the props, all the pansie-ations. He got rid of all those frilly things that would be legitimate.” And we observed that there was a scene where Ron puts on Rayon’s signature pink bathrobe reflecting how far his character has come. Can you comment?
J.L.: There’s a parallel moment where I wear Ron’s suit to see my father. The first and only time that I wear men’s clothing in the whole film and it’s Ron’s oversized suit. In that scene, because I had been wearing women’s clothes for so long, I felt like I was in drag.
Q: Did playing Rayon change the way you look at women?
J.L.: I have a newfound respect for what it takes to be a lady — and sometimes it takes a village. It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it: the waxing, the heels, the eyelashes, the wigs the skirts, the tights, off with the eyebrows, and on with the eyebrows.
Q: You must have movie offers flooding in. What’s your next step?
J.L.: My next step is on to the stage in Frankfurt in front of tens of thousands of people to play an incredible show with the rest of the guys touring Europe and then back to the states. I don’t know what the future holds as far as making films. There is so much that I love about film, and I’m always excited to see a great film. I’m really thankful to have played this part. It changed my life in many ways.
Watch Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner talk “Dallas Buyers Club”:
Oscars Q&A: Steve Coogan Navigates between the Rocks of Schmaltz in ‘Philomena’
Question: The movie starts almost like an episode of the brilliant British TV show “The Thick of It,” which spawned the movie “In the Loop” and the HBO show “Veep.” Sixsmith gets sacked from his job at the ministry and it’s instantly clear this man has just been trampled.
Steve Coogan: It’s funny, that’s one of the notes from Stephen [Frears]. We wrote it originally with only a slight reference to Martin being fired and Stephen gave us a good note to include it. It shows Martin at a low point.
Q: Since Martin is based on a real man, was Sixsmith as cranky as the character in the movie or did you bring that?
SC: I brought that. When I interviewed Martin there was always a kernel of truth. I said to him, how did you feel when you were fired? And he said, “I felt sorry for myself.” I put a lot of myself into Martin. I said I need to change you a bit for this story. When I spoke to Martin about his character, we both referred to him in the third person. The character is a mixture of Martin and me. The cynicism is me and the spikiness. And, although that is me, I’m also aware of the limitations of that viewpoint. I want to attack my own cynicism.
Q: In contrast, Philomena could not be less cynical – but that doesn’t make her a pushover either.
SC: We see her on the surface at first. She’s from an an old conservative generation of women who on one level have a simple view of life, maybe not intellectual but have an intuition that is incredibly incisive. She’s actually experienced life. And Martin’s in some ways a journalist and an armchair theoretician. He has had the luxury to let his thoughts flow freely from his fingertips, while Philomena has had to get on with her life. She’s a doer. She walks the walk and Martin’s all talk.
[Related: Critic's Pick: 'Philomena']
Q: The beauty of the movie is that it sheds light on the human condition, but that condition also includes laughter.
SC: Jeff and I were very keen not to have it be too portentous, to seduce the audience by having them laugh along the way rather than hitting the characters over the head with a book.
Q: Coogan and Dench are not two actors often mentioned in the same breath. Was she always your Philomena?
SC: Whenever I considered who would play the part, I kept thinking Judi Dench. She’d played Iris Murdoch, and I said there aren’t a plethora of great parts for older actors. They tend to be supporting roles. They play an old person and that’s the most defining characteristic of that part. But Philomena, she’s just a human being and her age is only part of it. It’s not what defines her. She had a life. She was young once. So we hoped it would attract her as an actor. We went to her house and told her the story. She was a little trepidatious about playing something like this; she’s no different in that regard. She wants to do something a little different. She has an Irish background and it appealed.
Q: The scare factor: Were you worried about playing opposite Dame Judi?
SC: I was so preoccupied with producing, writing and getting her I almost forgot that I would have to act opposite her. I was a little daunted. And then I saw Judi trying to figure out how she was going to do it at the camera test. She was talking to herself in the character. I saw that she was flesh and blood and she had to struggle with things. I thought, “Oh, good, she’s not able to do it immediately.” She’s a working actor. That was good to see.
[Related: 'Philomena' Wins Appeal to Overturn R Rating for 2 F-Bombs]
Q: As an actor more accustomed to getting laughs than sobs, what worried you about playing the dramatic scenes?
SC: I said to Frears, I don’t want to be overacting. All I did was listen to and react to what she was doing. It would have been a lot harder acting with someone who wasn’t experienced. I just saw Philomena, when I was making her laugh, not Dame Judi Dench. The chemistry we had was real. I spent a lot of time in the car with her, laughing. She used to accuse me of having Botox and Collagen. Stephen wasn’t overly deferential. She likes that. When she was saying she wasn’t happy with some element on set, he’d say in front of her, “Has anyone got Helen Mirren’s number?” That would rattle her a little bit. She’d give him the evil look out of the corner of her eye.
Q: Did you pull out your Bond impressions for Dench since she’s played M so often in that franchise.
SC: Yes. I did my Bonds repertoire. She’d say, “Do some more of this, or that.” I became a performing monkey for her.
Q: A performing monkey that wrote her a role that may land her an Oscar, and potentially one for you as well for adapted screenplay.
SC: It’s a bit surreal but gratifying. It’s a story I pursued from reading something in a newspaper. The process itself is good, and the recognition is fairly nice, but part of me is very nervous. You can be killed with kindness, as Carrie Fisher might have said. I already started writing the next thing with Jeff. It’s good to talk about what you do, but it’s more important to get on with the work. My father used to tell me a Chinese proverb: before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water; after enlightenment, chop wood carry water. You’ve still got to do a day’s work.
‘Catching Fire’ Q&A: Director Francis Lawrence Identifies With His Heroine Katniss
It could have been challenging for director Francis Lawrence to be that other Lawrence, the dude, on the “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” set. But J.Law made it easy for this music video director, who’s worked with everybody from J. Lo to Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake to Britney Spears, and also has “I Am Legend,” “Like Water for Chocolate” and “Constantine” under his belt. Question: Is there a character you identify with the most? Francis Lawrence: Katniss. I do. She’s the center of the story, and I just buy her, I just believe her. I understand what she wants, and I understand what she’s thinking, and I understand what she’s going through. I believe in her choices. Q: Can you be more specific? FL: Sure. Her father died in a mining accident, and she started to provide for her family. So her objective in life is to provide for her family, and I think, mostly, for her sister. And she took on that role. And then her sister was taking on a different role, who suddenly is gonna be chosen to go in these games. And I get the sacrificing yourself for her sister, for that innocence.
And I relate to all the other choices that she makes. It’s about survival. It’s very simple. I don’t think it would have worked if she was really dwelling on love. Because I don’t buy that people do that in those situations where it’s life and death at your doorstep every second of every day. It just happens right: you’re bonding with somebody, maybe, in a moment in a cave, right, or you’re injured. But it’s because you guys are going through stuff together. You’re not thinking about, ‘Is he gonna be my boyfriend?’
Q: In the book, Katniss and Peeta share a bed for comfort. FL: Because when they sleep, they have nightmares and night terrors. They both have gone through the same thing together and that bonds people, when you go through traumatic experiences. And so, to answer your question, I just believe Katniss as a human, I really do. It’s not that I disbelieve other people but, because this story is so centered on her, I believe Katniss.
Q: But in this installment, it definitely opens up. “The Hunger Games” was so in Katniss’ head and seen through her yes. FL: Well the story opens up a little bit. For the most part, we’re telling it through Katniss’ point of view. We break a little bit, a few times. But we made a rule that it really always had to be about Katniss in some way, or because of something that Katniss has done. And that’s the way we connected it. So we grew and blew it open just a little bit, in terms of the Plutarch and Snow scenes.
Q: Those are the scenes that weren’t in the novel between the new Head Game Maker, Plutarch Heavensbee, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Donald Sutherland’s President Snow. FL: We had to backwards engineer those scenes. When Katniss gets back from The Districts, or from her victory tour, she’s back in The District, and she knows she’s failed. She sees Snow, and he shook his head at her at the party. She’s knows she’s endangered families. Gale is in danger. She’s going to come home. She’s going to want to run. And suddenly, these peacekeepers are showing up, right?
We know these things happened in the book. So we now have to figure out what was Snow thinking. What is the moment when he and Plutarch got together? What was the process when they decide to send peacekeepers to the District to crack down? And so we had [to] come up with just what their step-by-step plan is, to get rid of Katniss Everdeen.
[Related: Review "The Hunger Games: 'Catching Fire']
Q: Looking ahead, you’re leaving for Berlin to scout locations for “Mockingjay.” FL: We already made a couple of trips out to Paris and Berlin to scout. This is the tech scout. We’re going with the crew, because it’s our last opportunity to go out all together to really do all the technical and logistical planning for what we’re gonna do in each of the locations, and walk the crew through, what we’re planning on doing everywhere. So we’re gonna go do that over the next week, in Paris and Berlin. And we end up going there later next year in the spring.
Q: What’s the roll out over the next two movies? FL: It’s basically this time next year, and this time the year after that.
Q: And you’ve signed on to direct both “Mockingjay” movies, right? FL: It was a decision that was made early on while we were prepping “Catching Fire.” I’d only signed on for “Catching Fire.” And I was approached to do “Mockingjay” as well. And that was really exciting because the people are great, and it was really creative and collaborative, and a nice group of people. The only thing I was really nervous about was this movie because, if this one for whatever reason didn’t turn out so well, and the actors didn’t like it, or if people didn’t show up, or it got horrible reviews or something, it would be really awkward going back to the shoot. We go back to shooting, in about two weeks.
Q: While the books were originally on the YA shelf, “The Hunger Games” series has a wider appeal. FL: The stories just keep getting more and more interesting. The stories keep growing up, as does the fan base.
[Related: Is 'Battle Royale' the Japanese Version of 'The Hunger Games' (Or Vice Versa?)]
Q: Who is the audience for “Catching Fire?” FL: I think the audience is everybody. I wouldn’t take small kids. It’s pretty intense. But I think that it’s really for everyone. The genius of the material is that Suzanne Collins wrote a series of books about the consequences of war for teenagers. But she didn’t treat teenagers like children, which is one of the reasons that teenagers really ate it up. Because of that approach, I think it’s crossed over into the adult world. There are big ideas, and I think that they’re smart, and I think that they’re very moving. And so, I don’t think that it’s just for teenagers.
Q&A: Jake Gyllenhaal Takes No ‘Prisoners’ When Playing a Man with a Badge
Jake Gyllenhaal, who plays the tattooed Detective Loki in this fall’s kidnap thriller "Prisoners," has emerged as an actor equally at home in fringy indies and mainstream movies, from action to drama to rom-coms. While he’s bulked up and starved down for roles, the hallmark for his performances, from "Brokeback" to "Zodiac" and even "Prince of Persia," is integrity. We’ll leave it to the silvery tongued Hugh Jackman to shower praise on his "Prisoners" co-star: "Jake? Of all the roles in the script, there was less on the page and he brought so much. He’s a great actor. I saw how hard he worked. It’s the kind of role that’s very perfunctory, dealing out most of the exposition, and he brought heart and emotion and discipline." Here, the actor tells us about patrolling the scenes in a few of his latest films, including next year’s buzzy "Nightcrawler," for which the already-lean actor dropped 20 pounds for to play a local TV news stringer on the crime beat.
With Detective Loki and your LAPD patrolman in last year’s "End of Watch," you’ve shown a talent for portraying policeman. Are you drawn to playing cops?
Jake Gyllenhaal: That’s not true at all. I don’t keep playing a cop. No one person in law enforcement is the same. That’s part of the problem. I look at their personalities. What I learned from law enforcement is the idea of the uniform and how civilians often don’t see the person beneath it.
What about playing Detective Loki attracted you?
JG: This is the second movie with [Director] Denis Villeneuve following "Enemy." When he came to me with more of a perfunctory expositional role, he said, "I need your help, he’s not there yet." Sometimes those blank pages, the question marks, the unknown are so much more interesting. Also, I had recently completed a lot of research on police work. 
We talked about your research a year ago when you brought "End of Watch" to Toronto with Michael Peña.
JG: I remember saying to you that that was an incredibly formative time in my life. The research I did on "End of Watch" for the character of Brian Taylor laid a foundation for Loki. I wouldn’t have known how to hold a gun. The technical adviser for "End of Watch," Jaime FitzSimons, was huge. I find it critical to connect with someone in the real world that actually does that job.
[Related: Hugh Jackman on How He's 'Boring' and His New Musical Offer]
How does Loki differ from Officer Taylor?
JG: I always looked at Loki as someone who was not afraid of the dark side of the world. He was fascinated by it. So many characters in this movie are so scared of it, wanted to control it. As someone who had spent so much time with the dark side he wanted to learn more. He’s on a journey going darker. Some of Loki’s colors are definitely darker – [Hugh Jackman's] Keller and Loki share that in a way. Seemingly unafraid to go darker.
In "Zodiac," you also played someone obsessed with solving a crime, even if you played Robert Graysmith, a San Francisco cartoonist turned amateur sleuth rather than a law officer.
JG: I would look at the cartoonist in "Zodiac" as far more similar to Loki than to my character in "End of Watch." It’s more about psychology than it is about occupation, although I’m sure there are similarities. It is much different to be a first responder, like I was in "End of Watch," than a detective. There’s a deeper truth that Loki is looking for from every character — and he’s hiding, too. What is that past that he had? What makes him so desperate to know other people’s truths? What is he hiding, and what is he hiding from, with his tattoos and physical behavior? He has the longest backstory of anybody in this movie — and yet I don’t think it’s visible. It crosses over without ever being made explicit.
And now, you’re in Los Angeles shooting the L.A. Noir "Nightcrawler," written and directed by Dan Gilroy and produced by his brother, Tony Gilroy of "The Bourne Legacy." You’re not a policeman, but you’re a man seduced by the shady world of freelance crime journalism.
JG: I feel like I’m living a perpetual Halloween. "Nightcrawler" is about a version of Los Angeles that has to do with how wild and primal it is. I see the city as my co-star and then I would say it is Rene Russo and Bill Paxton. Robert Elswit, who shot "There Will be Blood," is the cinematographer. I think there’s a cinematic quality to this movie that’s a much grander vision of L.A. than "End of Watch." Even today I was looking at the weather for the night because we’re shooting tonight. I was looking to see if it’s going to be rainy and sure enough, it’s bright sun for the next 10 days. I was as much comforted as made uneasy. With that kind of brightness there’s always a question of what’s going on underneath. This movie is set all at night and that’s what it explores. "Nightcrawler" is about the success of one guy, a true hero’s journey amongst the darkness.
[Related: Jake Gyllenhaal Hospitalized After Intense Scene on 'Nightcrawler']
You were born in L.A., and there are particular locations that reverberate in movies, like the Griffith Observatory in "Rebel Without a Cause." Do you have a touchstone L.A. place for this film?
JG: The hundreds and hundreds of radio towers on Mount Wilson. That to me is what this movie is. Those radio towers are pretty far out into the wild on top of the mountains and they are these beacons of civilization and communication but they’re surrounded by the wild, coyotes and other animals, and how they interact with each other. That vision is "Nightcrawler."
Watch Gyllenhaal and the cast of "Prisoners" discuss the film:
Critic’s Pick: ‘Nebraska’
Dern, Forte in black and white (Photo Credit Paramount Pictures)
In Alexander Payne’s “Nebraska,” Bruce Dern reveals flesh, bone, even DNA, and the kind of screen wisdom built on years of experience, good and bad. It’s a performance that may very well pit him against another sage actor of the same age come Oscar time.
At the center of Bob Nelson’s subtle, funny-sad script is Woody Grant (Dern), a disappointing and disappointed Midwestern father on a quixotic mission to redeem a dubious lottery ticket. The septuagenarian travels from Montana to the Cornhusker State despite the disapproval of his bristly wife Kate (a tartly perfect June Squibb), and with his reluctant son David at the wheel. Along the way, in dribs and drabs, switchbacks and a lost set of dentures, Woody reclaims his dignity and reaffirms the core values of America without waving a single flag.
[Related: Academy Conversations: "Nebraska" with Bruce Dern, June Squibb and Albert Berger]
Dern, At 77, born during the Great Depression in the same year as “All is Lost’s” rugged Robert Redford, when Franklin D. Roosevelt was reelected president, gives the transcendent performance of a very long career that began with playing an uncredited local in Elia Kazan’s Montgomery Clift drama “Wild River.” The man has been around — and won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival last Spring for playing Woody.
It’s as if everything Dern has ever seen, every lesson he’s ever learned (or unlearned), and all the guidance of Payne, who told the actor “don’t show us anything, Bruce, let us find it,” has culminated in this performance, this comic Cornhusker Don Quixote. At his side is Forte, who has flipped the switch from comedy to drama with a still, soulful-eyed performance. And Squibb creates the signature moment of her career when Kate visits her hometown cemetery and lifts her skirt in front of a long-dead high school suitor to show she still has game.
In iconic black and white, the brilliant, empathetic Payne (“Sideways”) delivers another fully realized road movie – and Oscar contender. It’s a homecoming for the Omaha native that drives deep into America’s heartland, and the heart of a single fly-over family, the Grants. The funny-sad film starts shaggy as Woody wanders along the blistered side of a Montana highway on a ridiculous odyssey to his home state, then achieves a deeply moving finish with the realization that sometimes what we want is small potatoes, not millions, a newish truck, and the look of respect, even love, in the eyes of an estranged son.
Bottom Line: Visit “Nebraska” and the great state of Alexander Payne
- Oscars Q&A: Jared Leto: ‘I Didn’t Know If I’d Ever Make a Film Again’
- Oscars Q&A: Steve Coogan Navigates between the Rocks of Schmaltz in ‘Philomena’
- ‘Catching Fire’ Q&A: Director Francis Lawrence Identifies With His Heroine Katniss
- Q&A: Jake Gyllenhaal Takes No ‘Prisoners’ When Playing a Man with a Badge
- Critic’s Pick: ‘Nebraska’
- Review: ‘Lone Survivor’
- Review: ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’
- Spoof Mashes up ‘Gravity’ with ‘Ikea’
- Review of ’12 Years a Slave’ by Vassar Student David Lee
- Academy Conversations: ‘Nebraska’ with Bruce Dern, June Squibb, Producer Albert Berger & me
© 2013 Thelma Adams: Critic, Novelist, Oscarologist. Powered by Wordpress.
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