Jared Leto on Avoiding Trans Character 'Cliché' for 'Dallas Buyers Club'

Jared Leto talked with Jon Stewart on Tuesday about his dedication to presenting a trans charter on screen who wasn’t a cliché. 

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Jared Leto stopped by the set of The Daily Show last night to talk with host Jon Stewart about his experience playing a transgender woman in the film Dallas Buyers Club.
Leto, who recently received the Best Supporting Actor award from the New York Film Critics Circle for his outstanding performance, revealed he lost nearly 40 pounds to play the part and never broke character — even outside of production — to maintain the character’s authenticity.
"It was a really unique situation," Leto told Stewart. "There was a voice, there was a walk, a talk, the whole thing and it takes a little while to lose the muscle memory. I stayed in character the whole time. You know, you can’t really let go of that. You’re constantly in that place, at least I was, and I needed to be there in order to do what I had to do.”
In an interview with The Advocate last month, Leto said he was thankful for the opportunity to bring a trans character to the screen who wasn’t a cliché.
“When I read this script I thought here was an opportunity to bring to life a real person," Leto told The Advocate's editor at large Diane Anderson-Minshall. "And I think, typically, this type of role is usually only treated as comedic relief, you don’t get to know real person there. I’ve had my own experiences that I think led me to see this role as someone who wanted to live their life as a woman — as a transgender person, not specifically as a drag queen, as a transvestite, or someone who just enjoys putting on women’s clothing.”