Jared Leto has confirmed that he will play revered artist Andy Warhol in an upcoming movie. Leto has slowly but surely made a name for himself over the years as an actor who’s capable of completely transforming in order to pull off demanding roles.
Though the films he’s starred in haven’t always been huge successes at the box office, Leto has consistently been willing to tackle some very demanding projects. He gained an astonishing 67 pounds in order to portray John Lennon’s killer, Mark David Chapman, in 2007’s Chapter 27. Then, in 2013, after a five-year hiatus from acting, Leto took on the role of Rayon – an HIV positive, drug-addicted trans woman in Dallas Buyers Club. The role scored Leto his first Oscar and delivered at least some of the wider acknowledgment that his career had been lacking up to that point. But possibly his most well-known role came in 2016 when he went all out to play the Joker in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad. The portrayal earned Leto a certain degree of backlash, and his insistence on staying in character as the Joker often irked cast and crew alike. None the less, Leto’s reputation for authentic characters is now common knowledge.
Although not everyone loved his take on the Joker, fans have been eager to see Leto take on another highly transformative role. Thankfully, it looks as though the Oscar-winner will once again be challenging himself – this time as one of America’s most widely known artists. In a new post on his Instagram account, Leto revealed that he’ll be playing Andy Warhol in an upcoming film. The film, reportedly titled Warhol, will be a biopic of the artist, who passed away in 1987 at the age of 58. Leto has been touting a Warhol biopic for the past four years, and it appears that he’s finally managed to secure what will surely be another immersive role.
Warhol’s extensive yet short career was a highly prolific one, creating a lasting imprint on the international art world as well as within American pop culture. Responsible for creating The Factory in New York City, Warhol’s legendary gatherings mixed artists, musicians, actors, and a varied cross-section of sexual orientations, creating a space that was as liberating for many as it was groundbreaking. Having produced and managed experimental band The Velvet Underground, Warhol also created an extensive array of often-controversial paintings that depicted everything from Campbell’s soup cans to legendary boxer Muhammad Ali. He even survived a 1968 assassination by writer Valerie Solanas, who shot him inside The Factory. All of these things will likely be covered in the upcoming biopic, meaning that Leto will definitely have ample subject matter to immerse himself in.
Yet despite Leto’s excitement over taking on the Warhol role, there’s likely to be a significant amount of controversy surrounding the film. Leto had previously been criticized for playing a trans woman back in 2013, as his performance eliminated yet another potential role for actual trans actors. Much has changed in the world since then, and given that Warhol was an openly gay icon, there will be those who will not see the logic in casting Leto to once again play an LGBTQ+ character.
Source: Jared Leto