Jared Leto is facing a new wave of sexual misconduct allegations, and NBC News reports that Hollywood appears to be keeping its distance from the Oscar-winning actor, with one upcoming film now stalled and another potential role that never came together.
The allegations are detailed in the new BBC documentary “Jared Leto: Hollywood’s Dark Secret,” which includes accounts from four women who accuse Leto of sexual misconduct or assault between 2002 and 2016, when they were teenagers, and Leto was an adult. One woman alleges she was 17 when Leto sexually assaulted her, while another accuses him of statutory rape when she was also 17. The BBC said it corroborated the women’s accounts, though the Associated Press was unable to verify them independently.
Leto has denied the allegations. “I have never sexually assaulted anyone in my entire life. These claims are absolutely and categorically false,” he said in a statement to the Associated Press.
The allegations arrive more than a decade after Leto won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for “Dallas Buyers Club,” a moment that seemed to position him for a major run as a Hollywood leading man. Instead, his career has become increasingly complicated, both by controversy surrounding the actor and an uneven stretch of high-profile studio projects.
Now, at least one movie that was expected to feature him has hit the brakes. NBC News reports that Searchlight Pictures’ “Lunik Heist,” which Leto is attached to co-star in, is currently on hold. While IMDb still lists the film as being in pre-production, a source with knowledge of the production told NBC that the project has stalled.
NBC also learned that another potential role for Leto never materialized, though the report does not suggest that either development can be directly attributed to the allegations against him. That could have been Barry Levinson’s “Assassination,” opposite Jessica Chastain, Al Pacino, Brendan Fraser, and Bryan Cranston, but the casting apparently never became firm.
Searchlight has not publicly canceled “Lunik Heist,” and Leto remains attached to the movie. But for an actor who spent much of the last decade bouncing between prestige projects and expensive studio films, the lack of forward movement is notable.
Leto’s post-Oscar career has included “Suicide Squad,” “Blade Runner 2049,” “House of Gucci,” “Morbius,” “Haunted Mansion,” and “Tron: Ares,” along with several other major studio projects. The new NBC report points to a much less certain picture of where his career goes from here.
For now, “Lunik Heist” remains alive but on hold, while another possible role has disappeared before becoming official. Neither development has been publicly tied to the misconduct allegations, but both arrive as Leto faces renewed scrutiny and questions about his standing in Hollywood.
