CraveOnline: I loved your manager, Irving Azoff. He talks so straight, like when he tells someone they sound like a corporate dick. Is he always like that?
Jared Leto: He is. He has a unique gift in that he says what he thinks. He’s very decisive about that and he’s a legend. He’s someone we can all learn a lot from.
Is he a good guy to have in your corner?
He’s certainly someone you want to have in your corner, especially when you’re fighting a giant corporation. Nobody knows the business better than Irving Azoff.
If you could have interviewed former EMI chairman Guy Hands, what would you have asked him?
Oh, I probably would have asked him why he made a choice to try and make an example out of us, why he decided to fight rather than make things right. But, I’m not so sure that actually I would ask him anything at this point. I think that he gave me all the answers that I needed.
Would you have been able to make more movies if you were not tied up with the EMI issue for so long?
I would think so, yeah.
Were there any that came your way during this time that you just couldn’t entertain?
No, none that I can think of specifically.
When you meet fans, it seems like you pause and let them figure it out, and wait to hear whether they know you from Requiem for a Dream or music. Is that generally how it goes with fans?
People notice me from different things all of the time. Generally these days Thirty Seconds to Mars seems to be a common one.
Were those two encounters in Artifact, on the beach and on the street, pretty indicative of your fan encounters?
Yeah, that’s a common occurrence. People are very sweet and nice. I find there to be a lot of really wonderful people out there.
Was there a struggle at first to keep your music side and acting side separate?
Yeah, it was very important I think, like anything. There’s a time and place to focus on things and when I would focus on a film, I would focus on that and of course when I focus on music I focus on that. Just in the same way if Apple’s releasing an iPad, they’re probably not talking about the iPhone.
Now that Thirty Seconds to Mars has had some success, is it easier to blend the two or keep them in the places you want?
You know, success is a great denominator. It is wonderful that we’ve achieved so much, more than we ever dreamed. That’s been an incredible gift. Not only do we get to continue making music and playing shows, but we’ve had an incredible experience touring the world, playing some of the biggest shows of our lives just this year. We’re really grateful for that.
We also saw Dallas Buyers Club and the story we hear is you stayed in character as Rayon. Has that been exaggerated or were you really Rayon the whole time?
I was, in my heels and my wig. I certainly needed to be exactly where I was in order to bring that beautiful creature to life.
Why was that important to never break to be Jared?
It was important to me because I wanted to do the very best job that I could.
Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline and the man behind Best Episode Ever and Shelf Space Weekly. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.
