Jared Leto Syndrome: credit where credit is not due

[private joker]

There is a fascinating phenomenon in pop culture whereby certain figures receive credit where it may or may not belong. The thing is, there's a lot of media and a lot of information floating around, so everyone thinks they're experts. They think everything they read is the whole truth (well, they won't admit it but subconsciously they do) and jump to bad conclusions because of it.

Often there's a lot going on behind the scenes of stuff and it's probably wise to withhold judgment a lot of times. And this works both ways -- be careful not to bash people you've never met because there's lots of gossip stories about them, and also be careful not to overly praise people when you assume they're responsible for everything good that surrounds them. They may not be.

I know the above description is vague and shallow, so I'll explore it a little deeper. I've named this condition Jared Leto Syndrome because actually it applies both ways to Leto himself.

First, let's look at reasons why Leto might be unfairly *overrated*.

Was there any evidence, prior to about 1998, that Leto was a good actor? I don't think so; he'd done some bad TV shows and bit parts here and there, and was generally considered some young pretty boy idiot. But then he had a slate of terrific movies on his resume:

The Thin Red Line
Fight Club
American Psycho
Requiem For a Dream
Panic Room

I think any actor would die to have that resume. One masterpiece after another. However -- can't one attribute this success to Leto's manager? Somebody is reading all those scripts, and someone is working deals to get Leto cast in these movies. Everyone in Hollywood wanted to be in Thin Red Line, and most of them didn't make it. Those who did ended up getting cut out a lot of the time. But I first took notice of Leto when he's in that field chewing gum and wide-eyed, ready to charge. The instant he gets up he gets blasted in the chest. Pretty cool scene. Of course his roles in Fight Club and American Psycho are small, but effective. Then his breakout lead role in Requiem is just great acting any way you slice it. I think his dining room table scene with Ellen Burstyn is the most emotionally wrenching moment in cinema of the past decade. In fact when you watch the scene you can see the framing on Burstyn's face slip a bit because the DP's eyepiece fogged up from his tears while he was shooting it.

Anyway, the point is Leto has a great manager/agent apparently. Still doesn't mean he's some great actor. Just good enough, probably.

Now let's look at why Leto may be *underrated*. If you've been reading blogs over the past 2 years or paying attention to any celeb gossip rags, you'll find stories of Leto acting like a total prick during shows of his crappy rock band 30 Seconds To Mars. What a godawful band that is, and how dare someone who sings for such a crap band have the gall to act like a prima donna -- getting into fights, storming off stage, yelling at fans, being an overall jerk.

But this is what we read. Of course these stories make the news. Does anyone report the other 95% of the time when Leto might just be working competently? Showing up on time, doing multiple takes for the video, and staying sober until it wraps? Not worthy of a medal, of course, but certainly not bad -- but it's not news, and thus our image now of him is warped the other way. A friend of mine knows Leto's assistant, and evidently he's a pretty normal and relatively good guy. I guess I'll take her word for it, since I don't want to fall for the Jared Leto Syndrome and jump to conclusions.

Anyway, what have we learned about Leto? Turns out we're just as confused as ever -- he might be a good actor, but he probably just has a good manager. He might be a prick on stage, but he also might only have a few outstanding moments of douchiness and the rest of the time he's fine. At the end of the day, I've never met him and I shouldn't rush to judgment.

Extrapolate for a minute -- how have you fallen victim to Jared Leto Syndrome? Assume Robert DeNiro is really boring because he doesn't interview well? Assume Tom Cruise is a psychopath because of the Scientology stuff? Assume Sharon Stone is smart because she keeps telling people she is? Maybe you assume Hillary Clinton is a frozen cold bitch.

Maybe you assume OK Go is a good band because of the treadmill video, but it turns out they suck and just happened to record with the guy who produced New Order, Suede, The Cardigans, and Franz Ferdinand. Maybe you didn't notice that the same guy produced the movies Seven, The Devil's Advocate, and A Perfect Murder, and never put together the guilty-pleasure genre-thrills those movies offer as being of a piece.

Maybe something some athlete said was taken out of context. Maybe some apology some jerk made in the media was totally scripted and he didn't really mean it. Maybe that nice guy on Letterman goes home and beats his wife before cheating on her.

There's a lot of information out there. But there's a lot we don't know. I've stopped jumping to conclusions. Because I have no idea what Jared Leto is like.

[Eagles]

Great post
I'll give some more thoughts once it sinks in a bit but this really is a fantastic post IMO. Excellent content and it was written very well.

[NajdorfDefense]

At age 27, I don't think Leto was considered a 'boy idiot' as you claim.

[private joker]

[ QUOTE ]
At age 27, I don't think Leto was considered a 'boy idiot' as you claim.

[/ QUOTE ]

FWIW the phrase "pretty boy idiot" should have implied he was both a "pretty boy" (which someone can be at any age) and "idiot."

[NajdorfDefense]

Fair enough, but who claimed he was an idiot? Just curious.

It's a truism that many good-looking people in Hollywood are called 'stupid' due to the nature of their success, particularly if it comes at a younger age. The national/LA media didn't pick up on how sharp Will Smith was until much later in his career, as an example.

[nyc999]

Funny story - my friend worked on the movie he recently made in which he plays the guy who killed John Lennon. He gained something like 70 lbs. for the role. Apparently, the mics were left on in-between takes. He didn't know this and told the person next to him "I've just ruined my career." The director/producers, etc. were not very happy.

[prohornblower]

I liked him as Steve Prefontaine.

[private joker]

General note about this thread: it will get lame if people only talk about Jared Leto. He was just the launch pad for the syndrome in general, so feel free to bring up other examples of people/items that have fallen victim to JLS, or times when you have been guilty of JLS.

[BarryLyndon]

Holy [censored], the media skews our interpretation of actors and focuses our attention on aspects of performing artists lives that are almost entirely irrelevant to their art? People pay attention to fast-food entertainment as opposed to actually sitting and thinking about the films they watch? Corporations feed on this because it translates to millions of dollars! Holy [censored] [censored], call the President, it's a national emergency. No, wait - it's just most people being people. Sigh.

It's a pretty salient point, Joker.

On to Leto himself (since it's goinng to become about this anyway):

I think that looking at Leto as Steve Prefontaine is a nice example of Joker's best point - he's a competent actor. He won't tear a film apart, but don't ask him to raise any film's quality to a higher level. If you put, on the other hand, Billy Crudup in "Prefontaine" and Jared Leto in "Without Limits," things would get awfully interesting. "Without Limits" would become terrible, but Crudup give "Prefontaine" a few thousand more volts of dramatic synergy.

I suspect that Leto's best role - Requiem for a Dream - is a function of brilliant CASTING, which found him to be a perfect fit. Direction had a thing or two to do with all the actor's spledor, as even Marlon Waynes was gripping.

As to what Jared Leto is like, it brings me back to my most unsung request - let's just watch the [censored] movies, please.

[thatpfunk]

um, duh?