The film is directed by Daniel Espinosa (Safe House) and co-stars Michael Keaton, Adria Arjona, Matt Smith, Jared Harris and Tyrese Gibson. It’s yet another showcase for Leto’s extraordinary capacity to disappear into a role, the mark of a true “character actor”, who leaves little trace of his own personality or his past work.

Perhaps that’s why he lacks the so-called star appeal of lead actors that audiences reliably identify with time and time again. But Leto, who turned 50 in December but looks at least 10 years younger, insists on treating every role as a singular experience.

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“It’s not easy at times, at the end of the day, when you try to get rid of your character,” he says. “You learn to find a way to relax and take some distance. But the thrill for me is to go as far as I can to inhabit an intense role. On some films, it’s literally like walking on the edge of an abyss …”

To play Paolo Gucci, Leto underwent a total physical and personal transformation – to the extent that when co-star Al Pacino first met him on the set, Pacino thought he was one of the extras and dismissed him with a wave of his hand.

Meditation allows you detach yourself from a lot of the distractions and things that often get in the way of your life and it enables you to stay in the present,” adds Leto. “It’s my way of achieving inner peace and silence.

Apparently Leto’s appearance in House of Gucci – which the real-life Gucci family criticised for its less-than-flattering portrayal – has not interfered with his ongoing collaboration with the legendary Italian fashion house. For the past eight years he has served as the face of Gucci’s Guilty fragrance and a Gucci ambassador on red carpets from the Met Gala to movie premieres, as well as modelling in its major runway shows. Leto is also a close friend of Alessandro Michele, Gucci’s dazzling creative director.

Though he loves fashion as an “expressionistic art form”, Leto says he has never thought of designing clothes himself. “The only clothing I’ve designed is T-shirts for Thirty Seconds to Mars,” he admits about his rock trio. “When you’re in a rock band, you sell merch. It’s an essential part of the business. But, no, I have too much respect for Alessandro and the team at Gucci to ever pretend that I’m a designer … so far.”

Leto was able to slip into the role of Dr Morbius after noting several parallels between himself and the twisted scientist.

“Being able to completely disappear into a character is an ultimate kind of test for an actor when you are able to totally mask your own physical appearance as well as your own personality to take on a role,” Leto explains. “It was something that I felt I needed to do and I was lucky that Ridley Scott (director of House of Gucci) gave me all the freedom and support I needed … Even with Paolo Gucci, I warned Ridley that I was going to take things as far as I could … and he backed me all the way.

“This role was different because Morbius is similar in many ways to how I am in terms of my day-to-day way of living. Not as a scientist, but just in the way I saw him talking, his personality, and the way I behave in a similar way. That was fascinating for me …

“There is something very sad about him. He’s a brilliant scientist and doctor who finds himself dying of this disease and then he works very hard to find a cure and thinks he’s beaten it. Then all that hope and satisfaction gives way to this terrible transformation that he could never have expected.”

Meanwhile, just as Morbius is opening in cinemas worldwide, Leto can be seen later this month in the highly anticipated Apple TV+ limited series WeCrashed, co-starring Anne Hathaway.

Leto plays Adam Neumann, the Israeli-American founder and CEO of WeWork, the global workspace start-up that within 10 years had grown into a multibillion-dollar corporation.

Over the eight episodes, the series explores the personal and professional failures of Neumann and his equally ambitious wife, Rebekkah (Hathaway) as they edge closer to financial ruin.

“I was happy to hear that Lee Eisenberg and Drew Crevello (the series’ producers) didn’t want to just make a takedown piece that kinds of vilifies people. They looked at it at this nuanced story and dug deep into [Adam’s] character … even though you can never completely understand someone like that … so in that sense this series is impressionistic.”

Leto was a fan of both Neumann and his corporate philosophy – his goal was to empower budding entrepreneurs everywhere – and admired Neumann’s intense devotion to his view of a global community, a philosophy that was nurtured while growing up on a kibbutz in Israel.

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“This series treats his life … more like a painting … it’s not a photograph … it’s not a documentary … it’s impressionistic.

“When you play a real-life character, I always feel like you have an obligation to do the work, dive deep, do the diligence, and to bring that person to the screen with as much dignity and grace as possible. So, that’s what I did in this scenario,” said Leto.

Leto was born and raised in Louisiana, US, by a single artist mother, together with his older brother. Having been encouraged to explore his artistic side, Leto would later enrol at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts to study painting. He soon developed a keen interest in acting and transferred to the School of Visual Arts in New York City where he majored in filmmaking.

His first major role came opposite Claire Danes in the cult TV series, My So-Called Life (1994-5). Leto then embarked on a film career that saw him appear in many memorable projects including Fight Club, Panic Room, Requiem for a Dream, Mr Nobody and Blade Runner 2049.

Today he lives in Los Angeles with his girlfriend, 27-year-old Russian model Valery Kaufman. Apart from acting, Leto has long maintained a parallel career as a musician with Thirty Seconds to Mars, the group that he founded in 1998 with his brother, Shannon. The band has released five studio albums and three EPs, with “A Beautiful Lie” (2005) and “This is War” (2009) both clocking global sales of over four million.

Today, one of Leto’s best friends is Finneas O’Connell, the producer/composer brother and co-writer of Billie Eilish.

“My musical career keeps me very busy which is something I enjoy. I need to keep moving and not feel like I’m repeating the same thing every day,” he says. “That’s why it’s important for me to travel a lot. And when you’re on tour with a band you meet a lot of different people, you feel this contact with the public, and I find that very satisfying and energising.”

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In March 2020, as the first wave of the pandemic was beginning, Leto isolated himself in the desert for a 12-day silent meditation retreat. He described on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon how emerging from the retreat made him feel like “Rip Van Winkle”, or that he was in an episode of The Twilight Zone, as the shock of learning that the whole world had undergone a seismic shift hit him.

“Meditation allows you detach yourself from a lot of the distractions and things that often get in the way of your life and it enables you to stay in the present,” adds Leto. “It’s my way of achieving inner peace and silence. The best antidote to stress is a state of stillness and simplicity.”

Milestones

1994

Got his breakthrough in the TV series My So-Called Life, contributing to the soundtrack of the film as well.

1995

Appeared in his first film, How to Make an American Quilt, alongside actresses Winona Ryder, Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn, Jean Simmons and Alfre Woodard.

1998

Formed the band, Thirty Seconds to Mars, along with his brother, Shannon Leto.

Cast as the lead in the successful horror film, Urban Legend, and had a supporting role in The Thin Red Line, which was nominated for seven Oscars.

1999

Starred in David Fincher’s cult classic, Fight Club.

2000

Appeared in two edgy, era-defining pictures: American Psycho and Requiem for a Dream.

2011

Set a Guinness World Record for the longest album concert tour: 309 shows over a two-year period.

2012

Made his directorial debut with the documentary film Artifact, which won the People’s Choice Award at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival.

2014

Won an Oscar for best supporting actor for his role as Rayon in Dallas Buyers Club.

2015

Became the face of Gucci’s Guilty fragrance, hired by the brand’s creative director Alessandro Michele who is also a close friend.

2016

Played the notoriously challenging role of the Joker in the DC Comics super villain film Suicide Squad.

2021

Played Paolo Gucci in House of Gucci, earning nominations for a Critics’ Choice Movie Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for best supporting actor.