House of Gucci star Jared Leto reveals how he crafted the accent he used to portray Paolo Gucci, a performance that's received polarized reviews from critics. Leto, a method actor, is known for going to extreme lengths for his roles, such as gaining 67 pounds to play Mark David Chapman in Chapter 27 and sending strange gifts to his co-stars as the Joker in Suicide Squad. His role in House of Gucci required him to use heavy makeup and prosthetics to look the part.
House of Gucci follows the fight for control between Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga) and Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver) over the family's Italian fashion brand. Paolo formally served as the chief designer for the company, even creating the business' iconic double-G logo of the business. Despite mixed reviews from critics, Leto's performance has netted him both Screen Actors Guild Award and Critics' Choice Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor.
In an interview with TheWrap, Leto discusses how he approached his Italian accent, saying it's about learning to pronounce words differently. He compares the process to his upcoming role as Adam Neumann in WeCrashed, with Neumann offering more footage to practice from, given his public visibility, compared with Paolo's less-public persona. He also mentions how learning Neumann's Israeli accent wasn't too different from learning Paolo's Italian one. Read Leto's full quote below:
An accent is just a series of mistakes. You learn how to say a word and maybe you don’t say it ‘correctly,’ whatever that means, but it’s just a series of habits. It’s the way your mouth makes shapes. Everyone learns theirs differently... The good thing about Adam is there was a lot of material out there, so he had hours and hours and hours of footage. [It was] kind of the opposite with Paolo Gucci, I had about a minute and a half of his voice in an interview. So in this case it was a blessing, it was beautiful just to be buried in the interviews.
Despite the polarized responses to Leto's performance, and the film's overly glossy presentation, House of Gucci was still a hit with audiences, grossing over $151 million at the box office to become 2021's best-performing adult drama. Director Ridley Scott's other film from last year, The Last Duel, did not have the same success, grossing only $30 million against a $100 million budget. Leto is considered one of the frontrunners for a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the Academy Awards, with the nominations set to be announced on February 8.
House of Gucci's success at the box office in the pandemic era speaks to an underserved niche in the movie-going public - with spectacle-heavy superhero films being one of the few genres to guarantee a profit in recent years, it's refreshing to see a drama for adults be so successful. Even though Leto has delivered more compelling performances in his career, he helped make up one of the most impressive ensembles of 2021. At the end of the day, it's good House of Gucci was a success, even though the end result is far from perfect.
Source: TheWrap