Item 1: Suicide Squad (2016):
For Jared Leto's role of the Joker in the resent film Suicide Squad, he used method acting to further understand and embody his role and truly become the Joker. During filming Leto would send his co-workers "gifts". These "gifts" included sending his on screen lover Margot Robbie a love letter in a box that also contained a live black rat, he also sent al cast members used condoms and anal beads, he exclaimed after filming that this was to truly embody the elements of surprise and spontaneity that are key characteristics of the joker. Leto's performance of the joker in suicide squad does represent that of someone psychopathic and someone fuel by spontaneity and surprise. He managed to reflect truly upon a new interpretation of the joker and captured key elements of the character.
Item 2: Chapter 27 (2007):
While preparing to play Mark Chapmen in the 2007 film Chapter 27 Jared Leto gained 62 pounds. he did this through binging on copious amounts of both classical fast food such as pizza and pasta and melted pints of Haagen-das ice cream, olive oil and soy sauce. Although this aloud Leto to truly embody the character it came at a great cost of having to be in wheelchair and dealing with extreme pain, as well as this Leto also got gout and dangerously high cholesterol. During this performance Leto gets lost in the vengeful character of chapmen and appears to be very over the top in his performance, this may be a result of becoming too involved and reading far more into the character than needed which brought on an inaccurate representation of Mark Chapmen.
Jared Leto didn't just go extreme with his weight for 'Chapter 27' he also lost an extreme amount of weight to truly form his transgender, drug addict, prostitute character Rayon in the 2013 film Dallas Buyers Club. Leto dropped 30 pounds as well as waxing his entire body from head to toe for the filming of Dallas Buyer Club. This created a truly realistic representation of his character that helped him win 6 awards including a Golden Globe for best supporting actor and an Academy award for best supporting role. Rayon is a character that has many powerful attributes, form being a prostitute to a transgender woman. Instead of focusing on these key personality points Leto focused more on the characters physical look, this therefore didn't allow a well informed and convincing performance of the character.
Articles:
Item 4: Pop Culture Rankings: From Daniel Day-Lewis to Jared Leto, the best and worst in method acting - 4th August 2016:
Item 4: Pop Culture Rankings: From Daniel Day-Lewis to Jared Leto, the best and worst in method acting - 4th August 2016:
This article gives the top five and bottom five method acting performances
and unfortunately Jared Leto fills the bottom five. In the top five Nicolas
Cage gets praised for his role in 1984's Birdy, where he removed two of his own
teeth to fully embody the role and give an amazing performance. Whereas Jared
is placed in the bottom five. One instance is where his 'method' style stole a
role from a 'real' transgender woman for the film Dallas Buyers Club and was
made out to have tried too hard to become a method actor and put more of his
effort in off screen than on it.
Item 5: Hollywood has ruined method acting - 11th August 2016:
This article makes the point that method acting is no longer used to create
a convincing performance but more for an outlandish marketing technique. Leto
had to differentiate himself from Heath ledger's Oscar winning performance in
2007"s The Dark Knight both in performance and approach to the jokers
character. This tells us that cinematic today can take advantage of certain
characters to gain even more media attention and this article explains why it’s
believed Jared Leto's "method acting" is more of a marketing
technique than approach to acting. This helps give an idea of how Leto uses his
'method' techniques more to gain a name as an actor than to give a truly
realistic performance of his characters.
Item 6: A Brief History of Things Modern Neanderthal Jared Leto Has
Done to Get in Character - 27th July 2016:
This article backs up Jared and his method acting style and states that
Leto's style is to help gain insight into the character and become more
involved. He uses method acting as a process to allow himself to give
thoughtful and depth performances. This article also tell us about how Jared
gets into character from the start to finish of a project and uses method
acting as he has no formal acting training. Matthew McConaughey also talked
about his experience with Jared on the set of Dallas Buyers Club. This is
useful as it gives you a look into how and why Jared uses the method acting
style as well as giving his co-stars views of his techniques and performances.
Item 7: ELLE: 9 Times Jared Went Full Method for a Role
4th August 2016
This article explains different roles of Jared's where he as perceived to go
'full method' this meaning he want to extremes to capture his character and
truly embody their characteristics and appearance. This is useful as it shows
the different roles where Jared went the extra mile when accessing a role,
where he changed his body personality and living style to really connect with
his characters.
Item 8: What is method Acting?| the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film
Institute
Documentaries:
Item 9: Lee Strasberg: 'The Method Man' - 20th December 2014:
This documentary examines Lee Strasberg and his controversial philosophy of
method acting. Lee used to coach top Hollywood actors such as; Paul Newman, Al
Pacino, Marlon Brando, James Dean and Marilyn Monroe. The documentary also
looks as the people who idolise him for his skilled influence on acting
compared to the people who saw him as a evil manipulative man who had a poor
effect on those who were emotionally vulnerable such as Marilyn Monroe. This documentary
forms a foundation of what the method acting style is and where it originated
from it allows me to see how it has developed and how Leto's style both differs
and involves similarities from the original method acting way.
Item 10: The Origins of Acting 'The Method' - 29th April 2015:
This book talks about the method acting style and the way actors can use it. This book is used more as a guide of how to become a method acting and the different steps and styles used in this technique. It is therefore useful in teaching those who are new to the method acting process about it different styles and techniques and which could be suited to them.
This novel gives more of an insight into Stanislavsky's influence on his 'method' and his interpretations of it. These views have become the central force determining almost every performance we see on screen or stage. Therefore this is useful in creating an understanding of great influences of method acting and how it became what it is today.
This book clearly lays out all ideas of Lee Strasberg's teachings. This book is easy to read and gives different exercises to help further a actors method style. This book is here to almost act as a substitute to having method acting lessons from Strasberg himself.
Interviews:
Item 14: Leto On Method Acting - 30th May 2014:
During this interview Jared Leto talks about how he uses method acting to
truly become the character and block himself out from everything to truly focus
and become an intense and direct performer. He talks about how he found this
was the best way for him to work, not to try and become the character but to
help put up a wall and underrated the character characteristics and
personality. This is representative of the reasons why Jared uses the method
acting technique and someone of the processes and style he uses to allow him to
give his best performance, this therefore makes this source very useful in
giving us a look into what Leto truly does while method acting and why.
Item 15: Charles Roven Talks Jared Leto Joker Method Acting and David
Ayer - 12th November 2015:
During this interview Charles Roven talks about briefly about Jared's Oscar
winning performance where he used method acting as well as how he acted around
the set of his most recent film Suicide Squad. During the interview he chats
about how Jared acted on set and treated other cast members to remain in the
character of the Joker. This interview is quiet useful as it allows us to see Leto’s
point of view of his own acting style and how it was used in practice on one of
his recent film and an opinion one of his most difficult roles.
Item 16: Jared Leto: The Unlikely Triumphs of a Rock-Star Movie Star -
27th July 2016
During this interview Jared talks about his experiences while playing the
Joker in Suicide Squad (2016) he talk about his how he used method acting to
full embody and understand the character and his characteristics. This
interview is only useful in giving an insight into Leto's performance in his
most recent film suicide squad. it is not representative of all of his work but does show us his most recent method acting techniques and how they have
been applied.
Clips:
Item 17: ALL JARED LETO JOKER SCENCES SO FAR!!!
I am using this clip so that i can give the audience and insight into Jared
Leto's role as the Joker and allows them to form their own opinion of the
character.
Item 18: Photo of Jared: Photo taken from Elle article '9 Times Jared
Leto Went Full Method for a Role
http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/g28585/jared-leto-method-moments/
I
am using this photo as it gives the audience a view of the different characters
Jared has portrayed and helps the audience gather who I'm talking about.
Item 19:
Comparison Photo of Jared Weight in Chapter 27
I am using this image as a visual stimulus so the audience can grasp an idea of Jared dramatic weight change for the film Chapter 27.
Item 20:
Comparison photo of Jared and Dallas Buyers Club's Rayon
Made by me for the presentation
I am using this image as a visual stimulus so the audience can grasp an idea
of Jared dramatic weight change for the film Chapter 27.
These photos are used as a visual stimulus for the audience to see and connect more with who these people are.
Item 21: Photo of Lee Strasberg
Item 22: Photo
of Constantin Stanislavski
Item 23:
Photo of Jared Leto:
Photo of Jared Leto:
Rejected Items:
Films:
I have rejected American psycho as Jared only played a small role in this
picture and there is not sufficient evidence to argue his method acting
technique. It is therefore not very useful.
Articles:
I have rejected this item as it is a documentary that only briefly explains
key aspects of method acting and his history and was created for a lesson and
not created specifically for the subject or method acting and how to inform
people whom are not taking the A-level subject.
Creating a Role - Constantin Stanislavski - Published in 1981:
Interviews:Jared Leto Talks Heath Ledger's Joker Legacy - 27th July 2016
