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Celebrities have long been in the practice of crossing over from one market to the next.  As far back as Sinatra (and even further if I took the time to do a little research), musicians have tried their hands at acting and visa versa.  Old blue eyes and few other legends not withstanding, the lion’s share of fame deluded fuck-wits who were foolish enough to to attempt the jump fell on their perfectly proportioned faces.  And yet somehow, here we are on the eve of the third release from 30 Seconds To Mars.  By some miracle, Jared Leto has made it work where so many others have failed, leaving the world to scratch it’s head wondering why, asking ourselves how this could have happened.  Leto and company have pulled the wool over the public’s eyes and lead us all to believe this is a real band.  One that could be mentioned in the same breath as say…Taking Back Sunday?  A bad example perhaps, but 30 Seconds To Mars can be put along side any mid-level band that has a modicum of success.  Songs will be on the radio.  Tours will be booked.  So how is it that Leto can go from teen-hearthrob Jordan Catalano on My So Called Life to certifiable rock star?  The answer is simple; method acting.  Though he has yet to put up an Oscar worthy performance on the Silver Screen, Jared Leto has swindled the public in real life by selling himself as a bona fide rock and roller.  It may well be the performance of a lifetime.  Follow me here…

Being a Buzz Generation teen idol clearly bothered Jared from the beginning.  What better way to shed that image than to take on roles against his type-cast persona.  By throwing himself into these characters, Leto sought to re-make himself.  He started subtly enough with the addition of a four star dick duster mustache in the biopic Prefontaine.  You can also bet he did an absurd amount of running to get into the mind set of a track star.  Though the butt-broom didn’t belie his 16 Magazine good looks, the attempts at transformation had begun.  His role as Junior, the tough talking crook in Panic Room saw a corn rowed Leto playing a cold blooded thug.  Again we see him taking a role which required a physical change.  Ridiculous as his braids looked, we can see a man who is immersed in becoming something—anything—other than himself.  In Chapter 27 he gained a ton of weight to play Mark David Chapman, the man who killed John Lennon.  What better way to cover his tracks than to do it with an additional 40 pounds of blubber?  Above all others, his role as Angel Face in Fight Club might be most telling.  Taking a part in such a dark film speaks for itself, but once again JL was willing to go the extra mile, dying not only his hair, but his eye brows platinum blonde.  Midway through the film Ed Norton’s character obliterates Angel Face, beating that sparkling visage into a mess of bloody goo and explains his actions only by saying “I wanted to destroy something beautiful”.  I like to think Jared Leto took those words to heart and has been doing his damnedest to live by them.

Whether we want to admit it or not, there is a certain amount of acting in music.  Acting tortured, acting mad, acting tough, whatever it is you are selling as a musician, whatever scene you fall into, when a person gets on stage there is an undeniable level of theatrics going on.  These are skills that lend themselves to making the switch from playing music to acting.  Look at the number of rappers who have forged somewhat successful acting careers.  The list is longer than the wrap sheets they all claim to have and the reason is simple;  they’ve been acting all along.  It works the same for rock musicians but the acting there is of a more subtle variety, making them better suited for bit parts.  Brief cameos where the audience can say afterwards “you know, Bon Jovi wasn’t too bad as the abusive boyfriend”.

Kevin Bacon has a band.  Russell Crowe has taken his vanity musical project on the road.  Hell, Bruce Willis has put out two albums.  Yet no one outside of the saddest, most rabid of their fans know this.  But in complete defiance of conventional wisdom, Jared Leto and 30 Seconds To Mars have somehow made it work.  The biggest mind-fuck of them all comes when I try to decide, is Jared Leto the best actor who also plays music?  Or is he a musician who happens to act?  Or could he be the best actor of all time, method acting his way to gold records and sold out stadiums, laughing in our faces, while hiding behind eye make up and colorful tufts of neatly messed up hair?  Whatever the answer, you can bet Jared Leto will look the part.