Jared Leto ‘Road-Tested’ His ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ Character At Whole Foods Market

Jared Leto decided to “road test” his character from the acclaimed drama Dallas Buyers Club before filming on the project began.

To prepare for his role as transgender AIDS activist Rayon, the 30 Seconds to Mars frontman decided to drop 30 pounds. He also threw himself completely into the role, remaining in character for the entire shoot. In order to properly understand the struggles Rayon faced, he decided to head out into public in full costume.

During his recent chat with The Guardian, Jared Leto revealed that he dressed as his Dallas Buyers Club character and headed out to a local grocery store. The actor was a little surprised by the reaction he received from his fellow customers.

“You kind of have to register reactions and things, so inevitably the day comes when you take her out for a walk: shaved, waxed, wigged-up, the whole bit. To get a little judgment, some meanness, a little condemnation was a useful thing for the part,” the actor explained during the interview.

Leto continued, “I went to Whole Foods Market to, I guess, just stare at the food, because I certainly wasn’t eating a whole lot of it. And I got three distinct looks from people. One was, ‘What is that?’ The second one was, ‘Who is that?’ and the other was, ‘I dunno what the fuck that is but I don’t like it.'”

Road testing the character certainly worked in Jared Leto’s favor; the actor ended up scoring no less than 30 awards this season for his performance in the flick. There’s always a strong possibility that the actor will snag an Academy Award before everything wraps up.

However, Leto is a little concerned that all of this acclaim will cause people to think he’s some sort of jerk. Although most celebrities don’t seem to worry about such things, Jared doesn’t want folks to get the wrong impression.

“I don’t want to sound like a jerk right now but somebody told me yesterday that I’ve won over 30 awards for it already. I didn’t even know there were 30 awards to win. The big ones were the Golden Globe and the SAG award,” he recently told Radio One.

The actor continued, “It was a labour of love; I hadn’t made a film in like six years… I wasn’t looking to make a film really but I ended up reading this script and I fell in love.”

Folks who missed Jared Leto’s award-winning performance in theaters can catch Dallas Buyers Club when it hits home video on February 4.