Image Source: EI Comercio Peru
Jared Leto who played the role of Paolo Gucci in Ridley Scott’s ‘House of Gucci’ is opening up about how he takes in the criticism from the audience and critics.
In his recent interview, Jared Leto shared that when Ridley Scott finalized him for the role of Paolo Gucci for ‘House of Gucci’ he told him, “Just so you know, I’m going to go completely crazy here.” Paolo Gucci was the grandson of Guccio Gucci, the founder of the luxury fashion house. Although he had a short stint at Gucci in 1953 when he served as the vice president and managing director but was soon fired by his uncle Rodolfo Gucci after Paolo failed to carry out his duties.
Paolo Gucci was also remembered as the black sheep of the Gucci family who after getting fired turned against his family members to launch his brand under his name and was reported to design, “lamps, sunglasses, furniture, sleepwear, bedding accessories and fabrics, wall coverings, ladies’ underwear, lingerie, plates and flatware.”
Actor Jared Leto shared that initially, he was considering a different part to play but as soon as he read the part of Paolo Gucci he fell in love with the character. He said, “I could relate to Paolo’s desire to be taken seriously as an artist, his desire to be heard, his desire to create something special and share it with the world. He reminded me a lot of my grandfather, who had a kind of mischievous charm to him and was gregarious and full of life and laughter. In my life I can be quite reserved and quiet unless I’m on stage [with his band 30 Seconds To Mars], so I love that Paolo was virtually singing and dancing all the time.”
Jared Leto shared that he fell in love with Paolo Gucci's character. Image Source: The Press Stories
Jared Leto further in his interview shared that Ridley Scott gave him the freedom to build his own story with the character and Jared put in months of preparations before he appeared on the set dressed up as Paolo Gucci. The actor shared that there was not much information available by the black sheep but whatever was available he used to build up the character and added, “It was just enough for me to get a cadence, a register for his voice, a dialect, his sense of humour. You could tell he was witty and charming.”
One of the things that excited Jared Leto with Paolo Gucci’s character was the physical transformation he had to go through which was not something new for the actor as he had been part of projects that needed him to transform physically. Jared said about the transformation, “I knew it was going to be a transformational thing though I didn’t know what he looked like when I first read the script.” Jared Leto took almost six hours a day to transform into Paolo Gucci and the actor took that time while his team prepared his transformation to focus on performing like Paolo Gucci on-screen. Jared added, “Once it went on, I believed in it… I never watched the monitor or looked at photos, I was just there. I love transformation, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
The audience has regarded Jared Leto as a ‘method actor’ but he has a different theory about his process and approach to the character he is playing. He said, “‘Method acting’, ‘staying in character’, I just reject those terms because they have been perverted by a bunch of morons who don’t know what they are talking about. For me it’s practical. It’s my job to be the most prepared person on the planet and be ready to go. You don’t want to step onto a set with Denzel Washington or Denis Villeneuve or Al Pacino and not be prepared. I enjoy disappearing into that part. There’s nothing strange about it. What’s strange is people’s interpretation of my art. Everyone has a method.”
‘House Of Gucci’ was shot in Rome during the pandemic (March to May 2021) and about this Jared said that there was no one on the streets and no one was allowed to go for a walk and quoted, “In a way it’s great for work because there are no distractions.” Jared Leto and Ridley Scott collaborated for the first time with ‘House of Gucci’ and Jared feels grateful that he was offered to play Paolo Gucci. Talking about Ridley’s exceptional working method, Jared mentioned, “It’s exciting for the actors. You’re able to do simple things like overlap in conversation, and they can use mistakes or happy accidents. The way Ridley works is the way everyone should work.”
Further in the interview, Jared shared that he never prefers to rehearse with the fellow actors and the director’s approach towards the movie and every character helped him to improvise a lot. He said, “I find it to be exciting when you don’t rehearse. If everyone has prepared and done their homework, which was the case [on House Of Gucci], it can be electrifying. If a first take is a disaster, in a way it’s beautiful, because in those broken bits you put it back together in a way I find is often filled with much more creativity and truth than otherwise.”
Even though Jared Leto’s acting skills and portrayal of Paolo Gucci landed him a SAG nomination in the supporting actor category, his portrayal was not accepted by a lot of people. On talking about his criticism, the actor said, “I can imagine [the reaction] because it’s a big swing. I don’t look at reviews, I don’t look at critics or read comments, but I tried my very best. Paolo is the best I can do. If you don’t like the work, that’s okay. I had a blast playing it, I dug in as deep as I could. It’s also that thing of if you’re not pissing people off then you’re doing something wrong. As an actor, if you want to put a dent in things you got to break things a bit, and not everyone’s going to understand that. So if that’s happening, then great.”
‘House of Gucci’ was released in theatres and Jared Leto along with the entire cast was very happy with the decision to release the movie in the theatre and not on OTT. About the same, he said, “It probably helped that the film was only in theatres. Not to weigh in on that big debate but it does make sense that if you can only see it in theatres, you’re going to do that. I had people asking me for links to the movie and I said, ‘Listen, you got to go to the theatre. I don’t have a secret link to the film.’”
Talking about his upcoming project, Sony’s comic-book adaptation, ‘Morbius’, whose release has been postponed for April, Jared said, “I’m in this rare position where I have two movies coming out a few months apart that are both exclusively in theatres. I’m flying the flag.” House of Gucci also stars Adam Driver,Lady Gaga, Al Pacino, and Jeremy Irons.
