Ever since his appearance in 2013’s “Dallas Buyers Club,” which earned Jared Leto a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, his acting career has seemingly fallen flat. In October 2025, Leto looked set to make a splash at the box office when he starred in “Tron: Ares,” the third installment of the cyber-tech action franchise. Not only did he play the title character Ares, but Leto also produced the film. According to The Hollywood Reporterthe actor had been attached to the project for years and returned to the role of producer in 2017. Unfortunately for Leto and Disney executives, the film failed to attract an audience and bombed at the box office with a budget of $180 million. After being paid a hefty sum as both lead actor and producer on “Tron: Ares,” insiders told THR that Leto wasn’t really worth it leading actor money anymore.
After the lackluster box office performance of the third “Tron” movie, fans on Reddit wondered if Leto was to blame. It sparked discussion about the “Suicide Squad” star’s place among Hollywood stars. “Yeah, he doesn’t really move the needle for the general audience,” one Redditor wrote. “A movie like this needs good word of mouth and a lot of people who review movies hate Leto,” another theorized.
Around the same time the film hit theaters, it was announced that Leto had been cast as Skeletor in a live-action Masters of the Universe. Once again, fans questioned Leto’s draw, which one Redditor believed the studios were attempting recapture the old magic the actor once brought. Another user exactly described Leto as “box poison.” According to PuckLeto himself “wasn’t thrilled with” the film’s final cut. Unfortunately for all involved, the distaste for Leto had been building for many years.
Jared Leto’s acting method bothered a lot of people
The public’s growing dislike of Jared Leto stems in part from his reputation for rubbing his colleagues the wrong way with his method. Leto’s on-set acting process was confirmed by the director of “Morbius” in April 2022. To promote the film’s release, director Daniel Espinosa spoke with UPROXX about rumors that Leto used actual crutches when he wasn’t filming to better mimic his physically challenged character, Dr. Michael Morbius. “Because I think what Jared thinks, what Jared believes, is that the pain of those movements was somehow necessary because he’s had this pain his whole life,” the director told the paper. Reports circulated that due to Leto’s insistence on using crutches, his bathroom break ended up taking much longer than necessary.
When word of Leto’s behavior on stage reached X, fans slammed the actor for his bizarre adherence to method acting. “Jared Leto went all methods for Morbius only to get 17% on rotten tomatoes?” one wrote. “Never seen more of a lack of self-awareness in an actor before,” another added. Like other Leto-starrers, the film bombed at the box office.
Prior to that role, Leto rubbed some co-stars the wrong way when he used method acting tactics while portraying the Joker in 2016’s “Suicide Squad.” After the film’s release, Leto admitted that he was unclear about his future portraying the Batman villain. “I’m a little confused too, but yeah, there’s a few things going on in the DC world,” he shared Official pop drop in September 2017. In 2019, the “Joker” movie was released by DC Comics, and Joaquin Phoenix was tapped to play the clown prince instead of Leto. Unfortunately some stars just don’t understand that no one likes them anymore.
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