Jared Leto Was Rejected and Mocked When He Put on Weight for the Film ‘Chapter 27’

Actors like Jared Leto are used to putting their bodies through extreme physical transformations for the sake of their craft.

But when Leto decided to become a bit overweight for a feature, the process took a heavy psychological toll on him. Especially when he experienced how others reacted to his new physique.

Jared Leto felt rejected and mocked when he put on a huge amount of weight for a role

Leto morphed himself into an entirely different person when he starred in the biographical film Chapter 27. The Oscar-winner played Mark David Chapman, the stalker who murdered iconic Beatles member John Lennon in 1980.

Given the film’s premise, Leto thought hard about doing the movie after reading the script. Ultimately, Leto decided to commit to the project because he felt it was an important story to tell.

“Mark David Chapman is an example of the failure of humanity, and John Lennon is probably one of the best examples of the most wonderful aspects of humanity. I think that, to explore the uncomfortable and the politically incorrect, is the job of the artist,” Leto once told MTV News.

To do the role justice, Leto opted to gain a massive amount of weight instead of wearing a fat suit. He believed doing so helped ease him into the mind-state and life experiences of the man he was portraying.

“I really wanted to inhabit this guy’s skin, and that effected the way I stood, walked and moved. I wanted to make it clear that this was someone who felt very isolated from people, who shyed away from human contact,” Leto once told Sandy Mandelberger of Sundance.

Leto’s dedication resulted in inheriting some upsetting emotions that would further inform his Chapter 27 performance.

“Also, being overweight, I felt the rejection and mockery of people who didn’t know that I was just playing a part. Their response to me as an overweight and unattractive guy, just made me realize how isolated he felt, how unloved and how untouched by human beings. I kind of turned into a sculpture,” he said.

Jared Leto’s doctors told him he had to stop gaining weight for ‘Chapter 27’

Leto asserted that his journey to gaining weight for the film could’ve been a movie in itself. The Dallas Buyer’s Club star achieved his physique by eating as much as possible, whether the food was good for his body or not. But this soon ended after professionals told him that he was putting himself too much at risk.

“I almost wish that I had made a film about the making of the film, because it was definitely a super-sized version of Super Size Me. It was doctors telling me I needed to stop, that I was going to kill myself, my cholesterol shooting up to 300-something points — which is bad. They wanted to put me on Lipitor and all kinds of medication,” Leto said.

Only hamburgers were off limits because of Leto’s vegetarian diet.

In the end, the actor called the process of making the film a “fascinating, but devastating, experience.”

Jared Leto didn’t speak to anyone while filming ‘Chapter 27’

As is the case with most movies, Chapter 27 was a team effort with many moving parts. The Suicide Squad actor collaborated with a few actors for the film, including Mean Girls alum Lindsay Lohan. But given his process, Leto refused to speak to anyone on set.

“I was in character 24 hours a day. For me, it was an experience that I had to have alone. The character was very isolated, and I took that approach as well. I had a very religious approach to developing the character. It’s not like the director said, ‘Cut!’ and everyone was able to laugh and go get a drink and talk about something extraneous,” Leto said.