Leto, who is a notorious method actor, spoke to ET about the process of letting a character go, at the 'WeCrashed' premiere Thursday.
It's never easy to say goodbye, and for Jared Leto, it's especially tough. ET's Lauren Zima spoke to the method actor at the premiere of his new Apple TV+ series, WeCrashed, where he described the "mourning process" that happens when he finishes playing a character and moves on to a new one.
"Look, when you make a commitment, in any way, when you let go, there can be a mourning process," Leto revealed. "Some of the things are physical. The way you move, the way you laugh, the way you talk, the accent. It can become habit. So, I think it's normal that there's a little grace period. You don't just all of a sudden, 'Hey, I forgot about the last six months of my life.' So, there's a little bit of time."
Leto's been known to dive deep into character, from his roles in House of Gucci, Dallas Buyers Club, Suicide Squad and in WeCrashed, where he plays WeWork CEO, Adam Neumann who, along with his wife Rebekah (Anne Hathway), helped grow the company from a single co-working space into a global brand worth $47 billion in under a decade -- only to see its valuation plummet in less than a year.
"It's no secret that I have a deep passion working immersively. I'm passionate about that. Sometimes, that's got its challenges," he continued. "But, in this case, I adored the project. The work was incredible. It was so challenging. There was so much dialogue. I was just buried in speech, after speech, after speech."
Leto had the help of dialect coaches for those speeches as well, so he could perfect the accent and tone of the Israeli businessman.
"I loved the accent," Leto gushed. "I had a great team of people that I worked with. A big team of Israelis that supported me, and taught me and guided me through the process."
Leto committed so much to the role that even walked the streets of New York City barefoot, something Neumann was known to do -- a lot. While he joked that he's been preparing for the moment since he was an infant, he said it's a task no New Yorker would willingly take on.
"Walking down the street barefoot -- if you've ever lived in New York, you know there's one thing you don't want to do, is walk down that street barefoot," Leto shared. "So, I think I got a little stunt pay that day."
See Leto totally commit to the role when WeCrashed starts streaming, March 18 on Apple TV+.
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