Jared Leto Will Star In Post-WWII Action-Thriller ‘The Outsider’
Jared Letoisn’t a typical work-for-hire actor. Leto doesn’t appear in many movies, and nor does he need to, considering he’s got his Thirty Seconds to Mars gig. When he does decide to act, it’s generally for wildly transformational roles, like The Joker, Mark David Chapman, orThe Dallas Buyers Club’s Rayon. Leto, arguably, is at his best when he’s not under prosthetics or weighing in at over 200 lbs, so the news of him starring inThe Outsider, a post-WWII thriller, is both a promising and refreshing decision on the actor’s part.
Learn Outsiderbelow.
Deadlinesays Leto has signed on to play the lead role in this period piece action thriller, which is set in Japan.The Outsideris only the second film Leto has signed up for since winning an Academy Award forDallas Buyers Club. The other film, of course, is this summer’sSuicide Squad, which involved delivering a performance the actorcomparedto giving birth.
Directed byMartin Zandvliet(Land of Mine) and written byAndrew Baldwin(Bastille Day),The Outsideris about an imprisoned American soldier (Leto) who escapes, with the help of his yakuza cellmate. Once free, the American has to survive the criminal underworld, as he works on paying his debt to his former cellmate.
The Outsiderwill be Zandvliet’s English-language debut. The director behindA Funny ManandApplauserecently had his latest film,Land of Mine, another WWII movie, premiere at the Toronto International. Sony Pictures Classics is releasing the awards hopeful project later this year.
Waypoint Entertainment will finance Zandvliet’s filmwithKen Kao(The Nice Guys,Knight of Cups). Waypoint Entertainment mostly recently financedThe Nice Guys,Gus Van Sant’sThe Sea of Trees,Terrence Malick’sWeightless, and are currentlyworking onScott Cooper’s period drama,Hostiles, which begins principal photography this summer. In addition to Waypoint and Kao,John Linson(Sons of Anarchy) andArt Linson(Heat) will produceThe Outsiderunder their Linson Entertainment banner.
Because of Leto’s music, comments, and method style of acting, he’s somewhat of a divisive performer. More often than not, though, Leto does good work as an actor. The more we’ve seen of his performance inSuicideSquad,the more DC fans seem to be warming up to his take on the character. It’s a transformative performance we’re looking forward to, but every once in a while, it’s nice to see the actor disappear into a role, like inMr. NobodyorRequiem for a Dream, that doesn’t require any drastic alterations to his appearance. While Leto will probably have to drop some weight for the film, since he’s playing a POW, we should at least expect a more restrained and grounded performance from the actor in the action thriller.
