- 5/18/2025
From disturbing method acting to controversial behavior, we're diving into the most unsettling moments from this Oscar-winning actor's career. From bizarre on-set antics to questionable social media activity, these incidents have left both fans and fellow celebrities feeling uncomfortable.
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00:00Well, it's Gucci and it's Gucci. It's head by Gucci. Yeah, it's a little bizarre.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the bizarre and questionable
00:10behavior from actor-musician Jared Leto that left us thoroughly unsettled.
00:14Don't do it. Put him in the box. No, no, no, no.
00:17Please, please, please, please, please. Put him in the box.
00:21Number 10. Method acting as the vampire Morbius.
00:24When Jared Leto took on the role of Marvel Comics' living vampire in Sony's
00:28Spider-Man-adjacent superhero flop Morbius, his strange behind-the-scenes behavior left
00:33everyone on set scratching their heads.
00:35There's absolutely no cure for that.
00:37Says the guy who knows absolutely nothing about the subject.
00:39Mimicking the character's physical degeneration, Leto insisted on using crutches and moving
00:44painfully slow during filming, even between takes. According to outlets like Variety,
00:49the actor's reported 45-minute bathroom breaks became so time-consuming that a compromise had
00:53to be reached. Crew members began wheeling him to the toilet in a wheelchair.
00:57While method acting is nothing new for Leto, more examples of this later, his actions filming
01:02Morbius bordered on disruptive obsession.
01:04You have to push the boundaries, take the risks. Without that, there is no science.
01:12Number 9. Purchased Haunted Hollywood Hills Compound.
01:16In 2015, the 30 Seconds to Mars frontman acquired a former military compound in Los Angeles,
01:22previously known as the Lookout Mountain Air Force Station.
01:24I bought an old Air Force base. It's a former top-secret Air Force base,
01:29and it has an incredible history. It's in the Hollywood Hills.
01:33If you need my address, I'll send it to you after the show. You can come by.
01:37Originally used during the Cold War for secret film development,
01:40the property is shrouded in eerie historical context, and is said by some to be haunted.
01:45The complex contains a swimming pool, gym, control tower, and screening rooms.
01:50Are there cool steel doors that can close?
01:52There actually are, yeah. There are former vaults in the place that are labeled like top-secret access.
01:59However, what really raised eyebrows was Leto's admission that there's a real working guillotine
02:04on the property, which he says is for people who misbehave. While most hang art on their walls,
02:09Jared Leto decorates with instruments of execution.
02:12Number 8. Called His Serial Killer Character A Charmer.
02:15Eleven more, you can make a calendar.
02:17In the 2021 John Lee Hancock thriller The Little Things, Jared Leto plays Albert Sparma,
02:22a deranged suspect in a series of brutal murders.
02:25And if I take a look, I'm in the market. It's not for sale.
02:32However, during promotional interviews with the film, Leto unsettlingly describes Sparma as a bit of a
02:37charmer. This despite the terrifying nature of the loner character obsessed with death.
02:41I guess when I think about Albert Sparma, I think of him as kind of a charmer.
02:47You know, I guess I wasn't on the receiving end of whatever might seem scary or terrifying,
02:56but I never really felt that. I thought he was kind of a lovable guy, I guess.
03:00By further proclaiming that Sparma possessed a great sense of humor and was endearing,
03:05the actor rubbed many the wrong way. How could he be so comfortable praising a potentially twisted
03:09killer? Regardless, the unnerving performance nabbed Leto Best Supporting Actor nominations
03:14at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards.
03:17How's the trunk space?
03:22Number 7. Lived as a blind man to prepare for role.
03:26In preparation for his role as the blind antagonist Neander Wallace in the sci-fi epic
03:30Blade Runner 2049, opposite Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford, Jared Leto took things to the extreme
03:35in order to experience the world as a blind person would.
03:38Clearly, either CGI or contact lenses.
03:40Uh, they were contact lenses, but when I put them in, I couldn't see anything.
03:45Wearing custom-made opaque contact lenses, Leto effectively blinded himself,
03:49wearing the sight-removing aids on set full-time.
03:52Director Denis Villeneuve stated that the actor would walk around like a real blind man,
03:56even requiring a guide to move about the studio.
03:58I would put them in in the morning, and at the end of the day, I would take them off.
04:02But why don't you, why don't you, did you walk to the set with them in, or did you go
04:05to the set, then put them in, do your scene, then leave?
04:09I had someone take me to the set and had to show me around and...
04:12Really?
04:13Yeah.
04:13But once again engaging in an intense level of character preparation,
04:17Leto reportedly left many around him confused, and more than a little annoyed.
04:21Pain reminds you the joy you felt was real.
04:24More joy, then.
04:29Number 6.
04:30Grabbed Elijah Wood by the Neck
04:31One of Jared Leto's more unsettling moments involves the Lord of the Rings actor Elijah Wood.
04:36The surreal encounter went down at the 2007 MTVU Woody Awards, where Leto, apparently enraged
04:42over what he construed as Wood laughing at his band 30 Seconds to Mars, confronted and physically
04:47grabbed the actor by the neck.
04:48I'm just gonna hurt you really, really bad.
04:54Wood, who describes himself as non-confrontational, told Jane Magazine that the incident left
04:59him shell-shocked, noting that Leto acted as if he'd been personally attacked and deeply
05:03disrespected.
05:04The whole aggressive outburst struck Wood as both ridiculous and disturbingly intense.
05:09It also surprised many just how quickly Leto was able to turn hostile.
05:13I am finished with you.
05:17Number 5.
05:21Risky Roll Prep
05:22In yet another example of Jared Leto taking method acting to the extreme, he dangerously
05:26immersed himself in the role of heroin addict Harry Goldfarb for Darren Aronofsky's Requiem
05:31for a Dream.
05:32What was I supposed to do?
05:33I'm gonna sit around and watch you push off and knock on myself?
05:36Just don't put it all on me, okay?
05:37You see, in order to understand the desperation of addiction, Leto lost over 25 pounds and
05:43lived on the streets of New York.
05:44Yeah, I remember going to New York and living on the street and diving deep and really getting
05:51close to some of the folks that I met there that were living similar lives to Harry Goldfarb.
05:57According to Aronofsky and Leto himself, he even refused to make love or do anything
06:01pleasurable during filming.
06:03This so he could stay hungry for everything while in character.
06:06My thought was I wanted it, I wanted the character to be in a place of constant, you
06:12know, starvation of craving, of desire.
06:15And while this dedication led to one of his most acclaimed performances, it also revealed
06:19Leto's risky tendency to prioritize method over mental health.
06:22My arm.
06:23My arm is killing me.
06:25Let's have a look.
06:26Number 4.
06:27Carried around a severed head replica of himself.
06:30Jared Leto's fashion has always, ahem, turned heads.
06:34But this took things to a whole new level.
06:36Please, describe to me your look and your look tonight.
06:38They're both looking at me.
06:39At the 2019 Met Gala, themed Camp Notes on Fashion, Leto made one of the most memorable
06:44and unsettling entrances at the Hot Couture fundraising event.
06:48I think camp is celebrating things that maybe are discarded.
06:54It's not taking life or fashion too serious.
06:58Wearing a red Gucci gown, the actor-musician casually cradled a hyper-detailed replica of
07:03his own decapitated head.
07:04While the outfit itself fit the theme, many naturally found the lifelike head creepy, especially
07:09given how lovingly he seemed to carry it.
07:11In fact, the jaw-dropping fashion statement felt like something straight out of a horror
07:15movie like Hereditary or Seven.
07:17Oh, what's in the box?
07:19Number 3.
07:20Started a cult.
07:21Jared Leto's band 30 Seconds to Mars has always had a devoted fan base, but things got
07:26eerily cult-like when Leto began holding what he labeled Mars Island Retreats in Croatia.
07:31It's pretty much our only show booked for 2021 on a beautiful private island in Croatia.
07:35I think it's going to be a big celebration that we can all enjoy after quarantine.
07:40Wearing white robes, preaching about peace, and surrounded by adoring fans who allegedly
07:44called him Prophet, Leto clearly leaned hard into the messiah imagery.
07:49Critics were quick to note that photos from the events look straight out of a religious
07:52commune.
07:53I'm really listening and watching to try to help us have a night that we'll never forget.
07:59Heck, the official band Twitter even joked, yes, this is a cult.
08:03While it clearly started as satire, the images of fervent followers quickly blurred the line
08:07between joke and genuine worship.
08:14Chances are you've already heard about this one.
08:26That's because the behind-the-scenes stories surrounding 2016's Suicide Squad are as unsettling
08:31as they are obnoxious.
08:37For one, Jared Leto reportedly didn't say a word to Will Smith outside of the script for
08:41the entirety of filming, this to maintain his character's thought process as the Joker.
08:53Then, there's the infamous gifts.
08:55It's been reported that Leto sent a live rat to Margot Robbie, a disturbing assortment
09:00of adult toys, not to mention used condoms and a dead pig, to the entire cast.
09:04He had a henchman who would come into the rehearsal room, and the henchman came in with
09:09a dead pig and plopped it on the table.
09:13Leto has since downplayed how genuine these gifts were, but other cast members have backed
09:17up their existence.
09:18Method acting or not, that's definitely no laughing matter.
09:21Number one, alleged concerning behavior.
09:46In 2005, an anonymous source told the New York Post that Jared Leto frequently texted
09:52much younger girls, calling his behavior really kind of creepy.
09:55Over the years, public figures have also raised concerns.
09:58Dylan Sprouse criticized Leto in a 2018 tweet, asking,
10:02Meanwhile, director James Gunn responded in a since-deleted post.
10:11He starts at 18 on the internet.
10:14A moment around the 64th Grammys also drew backlash, when Leto was photographed speaking
10:18to the then-18-year-old pop star Olivia Rodrigo, prompting fans to post such things as Olivia
10:23Run.
10:30What's your take on Jared Leto?
10:32Do any of his off-screen antics leave you feeling unsettled?
10:35Let's chat in the comments below.
10:36Now look closer, that's not Spider-Man, it's Oscar-winning actor Jared Leto.
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