Jared Leto Says He’s Not A Method Actor And Calls His Process “Immersive Work”

Jared Leto’s method acting process is so notorious that he’s probably made Daniel Day-Lewis say, “Calm down, girl.” Jared gave the Suicide Squad cast gross gifts from his character Joker, and even more recently, Anne Hathaway said that she barely met the “real” Jared Leto because he stayed in character while filming their limited-series WeCrashed. But I guess Jared doesn’t think he’s insufferable enough, because while talking to Variety, he said that what he does isn’t called “method acting,” it’s called “immersive work.” It seems to me that the only thing Jared is immersed in is his own ass, but I’m not the artiste here!

Jared stars in Morbius the Sony x Marvel movie about a genius doctor, Michael Morbius, suffering from a rare disease who ends up getting vampiric abilities. If you think that means that Jared spent months drinking blood to prepare for the role, you’re wrong. But if you think that he spent months of filming doing Too Much™, you’re 100% correct. While promoting the movie in an interview with Variety, Jared was asked about his method acting process, which isn’t method acting, thankyouverymuch!

Just don’t refer to it as Method acting. “Immersive work, as I call it,” Leto says.

In the case of Morbius, he may not have shaved his teeth into tiny Dracula-esque daggers, but he did extensive research by meeting with doctors and patients who could teach him about living with a rare, incurable blood disease. Once he had the psyche down, he delved into the physicality of capturing a tortured monster. For example, Morbius struggles to walk so he uses a cane for support.

A different actor, Leto suggests, may have taken an obvious approach and put a pebble in their shoe to help them hobble around set. “But for me,” he says, “it’s an opportunity to learn.”

In the end, it’s not clear what technique Leto employed to master Morbius’ limp. “I don’t want to get too specific because I’d like to keep some of that for myself,” he says. “But I leaned in — no pun unintended. I’m a sucker for a pun, but I didn’t mean that. I worked with people who had this specific physical challenge and modeled it after that.”

His co-star, Adria Arjona, who plays scientist and love interest Martine Bancroft, said that she was worried for Jared while filming because of how he stayed hunched over even when the cameras were off:

“I remember fearing for this guy’s spine,” she says with a laugh. “There should have been a physical therapist on call.”

Giving yourself scoliosis to commit to the bit? Great choice! Director, Daniel Espinosa, says that the crew was scared of him at times:

“I got scared for Jared,” Espinosa says. “He really commits. You have to watch out for it.” In another scene involving Morbius shattering glass, “I could sense the crew backed off,” Espinosa recalls. “It was a bit spooky.”

Working with Jared Leto is dangerous work! You’re not only in danger of getting cut by flying glass from him being such a committed ACTOR, but you’re also in danger of losing your eyeballs from them rolling out of your head while watching his “immersive work” at work.

Pic: Variety