Jared Leto: Indie Film's Dark Star

Dateline: 10/16/00

Jared Leto lost twenty five pounds for the part of heroin-addicted Harry Goldfarb in Darren Aronofsky's film Requiem for a Dream. The twenty-nine year old actor delved into a dark, painful and unattractive place to get the nuances of the part right. The film centers on the intertwined stories of four desperate and drug dependent characters lost in a hazy dream world of grandiose plans and groundless ambition. The film is as dark as it sounds, and as an actor, Leto suffered during filming. He got robbed at gun point. Even his sanity was at stake. In an interview with Talk magazine, he said: "I was miserable making Requiem and I went off the deep end, but it was 1,000 percent worth it."

Interesting talk for the handsome, hunky actor who has a legions of teenage fans, and on the Internet, countless fans sites filled with pictures of the dark haired, blue eyed star. Jared Leto sounds like a serious actor--an actor who takes chances, an actor who will starve himself for a role, take himself to dark places to enter a character's mind. Requiem for a Dream is an edgy, independent film, directed by a filmmaker whose first film Pi became an instant cult classic. Because of the disturbing content of the film, Requiem is unrated: always the kiss of death at the box office. Though garnering a great deal of attention, it will not be widely distributed. Sixteen year old fans have to skip this one.

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