wenty years ago, Jared Leto was high off his mind on heroin, launching himself off an illusionary Coney Island boardwalk into the great abyss. As Harry, the core fallen hero of Darren Aronofsky’s psychological drug epic , Leto justified critical acclaim, catapulting the actor and musician (he formed cult-favorite rock outfit Thirty Seconds to Mars with his brother, Shannon, in 1998) to leadingman level after previous but buzzy supporting appearances in and David Fincher’s , thanks to his biting performance and agonizing methodology. For Aronofsky’s saga, Leto infamously spent several months homeless in New York City, refraining from sex and regular meals to shift physically into the emaciated look of his drugaddled character. In the two decades since, he has continued to chase the extremes—from playing a millennial supervillain in to a transgender pill pusher in —with subversive, somtimes bizarre performances that beg the question: are there no lengths he won’t go? Similarly, in music and fashion, Leto has dissolved the boundaries of Hollywood convention, evolving from late-aughts emo alternative to the non-confirming maximalism populated by Alessandro Michele at Gucci (for whom Jared long played muse) and a new generation of experimental TikTokers. Indeed Leto today, with his long mane of hair and wellbuilt physique, is no longer the same skinny-jean-clad young rocker stomping the Vans Warped Tour. On the advent of ’s anniversary, he speaks with long-time friend (and sometimes collaborator) Finneas O’Connell—known mononymously as Finneas and the silent power behind sister Billie Eilish–about
