Jared Leto (Morbius, Suicide Squad, Masters of the Universe) has managed to maintain a very successful Hollywood career despite accusations of inappropriate behaviour from multiple women and even his own cast-mates. Leto has also proven to be box office poison over the years, with several major studio releases, including MOTU and Disney's recent Tron: Ares, underperforming or bombing outright.
Leto's continued ubiquity has led some to wonder whether the actor might have dirt on some very powerful people, but even if there is some truth to this, it looks like it could finally be the end of the road for the Academy Award-winner.
Earlier this week, Leto was hit with a new round of sexual assault allegations, with an explosive BBC documentary titled Jared Leto: Hollywood’s Dark Secret detailing the experiences of 10 women, four of whom have accused Leto of criminal sexual conduct.
Leto has denied the allegations ("I have never sexually assaulted anyone in my entire life. These claims are absolutely and categorically false"), but the people behind this new doc don't see the actor wriggling his way out of this one.
Executive producer Mike Radford tells Deadline: "The Jared Leto case is a bellwether on where we are on the MeToo movement. There has been a lot of pushback in that area, and how the industry responds to the allegations about Jared Leto will tell us where the industry — both music and film — stands when serious allegations are made against one of their most powerful people.”
Producer and presenter Jessica Sartenaer said: “People haven’t been paying attention, [but] I feel like it will be very difficult for him to ride this one out. People are [now] really paying attention, and I just don’t see how he could be attached to another Hollywood project. However, I think his music career is maybe separate from that. He’s still got some diehard Thirty Seconds to Mars fans.”
“The courage of the women who have come forward for this investigation is just immeasurable, coming up against a very powerful man like Leto. I do think what they have done will empower many other women to speak their truth,” she added.
While Thirty Seconds to Mars will no doubt retain a good portion of their fan base (Chris Brown still has legions of fans, for goodness sake), it is difficult to imagine any major Hollywood studio deciding to cast Leto after this. Then again, the previous accusations didn't exactly derail his career, so you really never know.