Jared Leto (or Jordan Catalano forever and always for me) is in an upcoming movie called the Dallas Buyer’s Club about a straight Texan with AIDS who smuggled in alternative treatments through Mexico in the 80s. Jared, who now is best known for his band 30 Seconds from Mars, plays a transsexual stricken with the disease.
He lost 30 pounds for the role, whittling himself down to a mere 116 pounds. Here are some photos he’s shared of his shockingly skinny frame shot by Terry Richardson:
While discussing this part at the Toronto Film Festival premiere, Leto says he remembered while filming that years ago he had a roommate who died of AIDS.
“I rented a room in a three-bedroom apartment and one of the rooms was rented by a man who was dying [of AIDS],” he said. “I was there during his final days. I didn’t remember that until I was in the middle of the film and it hit me. I couldn’t believe I had this experience with this man who was incredibly gentle. It was actually in the first week of filming that I recalled this and it really affected me in a deep way. He was a wonderful person.”
How did he not remember this until the middle of filming? Maybe he was repressing a sad memory?
Jared’s transformation was not just about weight loss, though, he had to spend a great deal of time in makeup. “I didn’t look in the mirror very much, except in the makeup trailer when they were going to work on me which seemed like it was always hours and hours of work. A girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do to put it together. It was unlike anything I had ever done before.”
Jared without eyebrows and in full makeup:
Matthew McConaughey also stars in the The Dallas Buyer’s Club, and dropped a great deal of weight to play Ron Woodruff, the homophobic straight Texan man who fought to get better healthcare for AIDS patients.
