5 Movies Where Jared Leto’s Overacting Made Us Roll Our Eyes

Do you feel that? Seriously, do you feel that? It’s a sharp feeling – almost like a stabbing pain. Oh, never mind, I know exactly what it is. It’s Jared Leto being an edgelord in a movie again, and it prickles.

As a self-proclaimed method actor, Leto loves to take it to the extreme to get into character for his films. Look, it’s understandable how someone might want to take five minutes alone to get into the right headspace before filming a scene, but Leto takes it to a whole new level where he needs to become the character he’s playing – on a full-time basis. 

While the stories of his ridiculous efforts entertain readers afterward, imagine working with this guy. It sounds exhausting – akin to that one person who always needs to ask a long-winded question at the end of a tedious-could-have-been-an-email meeting so they can look good in management’s eyes. So, having said that, let’s look at the times in which Leto went to his special place, but he delivered nothing but cheese in front of the cameras.

Suicide Squad (2016)

Of course. Everyone knew his stinker as the Joker in Suicide Squad had to be here. To be fair, there was a lot of pressure in taking this gig. The late Heath Ledger had won a posthumous Oscar for his portrayal of the Clown Prince of Crime in The Dark Knight years earlier, so whoever played Mr. J after him had some mighty big clown shoes to fill. 

Now, put aside the alleged weird gifts he sent his co-stars on set (Leto stated it was all B.S.) and consider the performance itself. Leto’s Joker made a whole bunch of strange noises like hunka-hunka and exaggerated every gesture, looking like he was in a completely different movie from everyone else here. He was Jar Jar Binks after discovering Hot Topic. Meesa thinks he received minor screen time, but even that was too much for this clownish performance.

House of Gucci (2021)

House of Gucci follows the battle for the fashion brand Gucci. In the film, Jared Leto plays designer Paolo Gucci, who was actually responsible for helping design the iconic logo and served as VP of the company. As Paolo, Leto looks unrecognizable, but boy, oh boy, does he ham it up here. 

If you ever watched an old interview with Paolo Gucci, you would notice that he doesn’t exaggerate his gestures nor speak with whatever cartoonish accent Leto is doing in House of Gucci. It’s like a six-year-old trying to imitate Mario’s voice from the Super Mario Bros. “It’s a me, Jared!” In a world in which Leonardo DiCaprio’s shocking Zimbabwean accent in Blood Diamond exists, Leto somehow managed to create something far worse here.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)

If you thought Leto would be one-and-done as the Joker, think again! He received yet another chance to ruin the character in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. In his only scene in the film, Leto’s long-haired and disheveled Joker features in a post-apocalyptic sequence where he engages in a bizarre conversation with Batman. 

As expected, he does most of what he did before, putting on the same goofy voice, grinning like a schoolboy who has been asked to pose for a photo, and delivering lines that add absolutely nothing of substance. Here’s the capper, though: he makes a peculiar sexual joke to the Dark Knight that’s a bit of a headscratcher. I thought this was Zack Snyder’s Justice League – not Axel Braun’s.

Morbius

When your film turns into an internet meme, have you really lost in life? Debatable. Jared Leto thought Morbius was his second chance at comic book movie glory after bombing it in Suicide Squad. After all, the character of Michael Morbius is a scientist who turns into a living vampire, so it sounds more like an opportunity to flex the horror rather than superhero-y muscles.

Again, Leto tried to do much here. He simply had to method act, so he used crutches to get around on set because his character used crutches in the story. Now, that’s fine, except for the part in which he delayed filming by almost an hour because it would take him nearly 45 minutes to use the bathroom. That isn’t all, though, as his overdramatic approach to Morbius is kinda funny, hence the whole “It’s Morbin Time” meme that was birthed as soon as the character’s fangs and claws extended. The Living Vampire isn’t scary at all here – he’s a joke.

Tron: Ares

Oh, Tron: Ares isn’t out yet, but the trailers already annoyed me to the point that I know this will be a train wreck. It’s crystal clear that it’s Leto at his most Letoist, putting on that overly dramatic serious face and posing like Fabio on the cover of a romance novel, and this will be him serving himself rather than the story. 

First of all, no one asked for this movie. Tron: Legacy is a highly underrated movie, and most fans would welcome the opportunity to see Garrett Hedlund’s Sam Flynn return for a continuation of that story; instead, we receive a sequel about this new character Ares, played by Leto, whose stock in Hollywood is at its lowest point. Second, Leto wanted everyone to call him Ares on set, because yeah, this is beyond silly now. Your name is Jared; just let people call you that. In addition to this, let’s see how Leto handles the press tour for Tron: Ares, since there are serious allegations about him out there and no good reporter should let the elephant in the room be ignored.