Why Jared Leto Couldn’t Watch ‘Dallas Buyer’s Club’ Months After Winning His Oscar
Actor Jared Leto clinched an Oscar-winning role in Dallas Buyer’s Club. Despite it being one of Leto’s most praised performances, he always had trouble rewatching the film.
What bugged Jared Leto about his ‘Dallas Buyer’s Club performance
Leto underwent an extreme transformation to portray his trans character in Dallas Buyer’s Club. Not just physically, either. He also had to get into the headspace of someone who felt they weren’t in the right body. In an interview with Roger Ebert, Leto revealed what he did to dive even further into his role.
“I learned a lot. The first thing I did was to meet with transgender people and I listened. They shared their stories with me. And I listened some more. It was fascinating to dive into these lives and to share and hear about some of their challenges and fight for acceptance,” he said.
The actor’s efforts paid off, as he was able to win an Academy Award for his efforts. But months after receiving the accolade, Leto still couldn’t look back at the film. If only because he wasn’t completely satisfied with his performance.
“I can’t hear that voice! I’ve never really heard very much of it and I’ve never watched the film,” Leto once told The New York Times (via Us Weekly). “I will [watch it] at some point, I’m sure. But too soon! It can never live up to the expectations I would have of it now because it was such a beautiful experience and the response that it got was really wonderful.”
Jared Leto constantly took his ‘Dallas Buyer’s Club’ role home with him
Leto’s work with the character didn’t end after the shoot. The Morbius star confided that he often took the part home with him. This was because his transformation went beyond losing weight and dressing a certain way.
“The makeup was just one thing. I had dropped about 30 pounds. But there are other things, too. You couldn’t really take the costume off,” Leto said. “I waxed my body from head to toe. Then there is all the inside stuff. I lived in that character throughout the course of shooting. It was really important to do that. It isn’t the kind of thing where the director yells, ‘Action,’ and then all the minutia, the accoutrements, the mannerisms, the behavior, all of that all comes back. I couldn’t afford to let go for fear that I would lose that.”
Leto also revealed that he had a slight fear of permanently losing his eyebrows, which he also shaved for the film.
“I was worried. I waxed my eyebrows off. I waxed them twice throughout shooting. Two or three times. And I remember the second time, I thought, ‘Oh man, is this the one when they don’t ever come back?’ They started to come back a little bit so we had to wax them again. But they did,” he said.
What winning an Oscar for ‘Dallas Buyer’s Club’ meant to Jared Leto
Leto was very candid about how excited he was to win his Best Supporting Actor Oscar. The Suicide Squad star confided that he didn’t prepare much for his victory since he wasn’t sure the prize would be his.
“The funny thing that happens is you do have all of these events happening, so it’s not like you can just obsess on that one thing. It’s not like you can save everything for that one night,” he once said according to Contact Music. “And also, you don’t know if you’re going to get it. So, you don’t want to be too cocky, you don’t want to have something planned out, because you don’t want to jinx this incredible moment.”
Leto also shared how his experience as a musician came in handy when he had to give his Oscar-winning speech on stage.
“When you win an Academy Award, you don’t get a trophy. You don’t get a pat on the back. Your award-reward-is you get a chance to stand in front of the world…and say something that’s meaningful to you, meaningful to someone else, you make your choice,” Leto said. “But I was very clear on that opportunity. I think only because I had played hundreds and hundreds of shows, I played stages around the world, that I was able to get up there and my brain happened to work in that moment.”
