Denzel Washington Says Jared Leto Didn't Indulge In His 'Method' Antics On The Little

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Denzel Washington says Jared Leto didn't indulge in any of his infamous method acting antics on the set of their thriller The Little Things. The actors star in Warner Bros.' serial killer thriller alongside fellow Oscar-winner Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody, No Time To Die). The movie, a passion project from John Lee Hancock (he wrote the script 30 years ago), will be released in theaters and on HBO Max on Friday, January 29. Washington stars as a Deputy Sheriff who returns to LA to investigate a series of murders with Malek's detective.

Leto plays the chief suspect, Albert Sparma, a character the actor has compared to The Joker, who he played in 2016's Suicide Squad. While working on that movie, Leto infamously indulged in several so-called method acting antics, staying in character while on set and sending his co-stars some creepy "gifts," including a dead rat and a pig's body. He also insisted on walking around blind while working on Blade Runner 2049 and has gained or lost vast amounts of weight according to a role's demands. But Washington says there was no sign of that on The Little Things.

Speaking to USA Today, Washington says that not only was there no sign of the method acting from Leto on The Little Things but that if there were, he would have "been paid a visit." Despite his obvious distaste for such antics, Washington does say that he and Leto purposely avoided meeting each other before shooting, helping them keep the tension high during the first scene they shot. Washington even says he took a leaf out of Leto's playbook, admitting that he hung out around Leto's apartment without the fellow actor knowing. You can read his full comments below:

He didn’t do any of that with me. Nah. He’d have been paid a visit. That wouldn’t happen. I stayed away from him. He stayed away from me, respectfully so. We’d bow or nod from across the highway. Literally, one day we nodded across the highway from each other. [But] I’d follow him around. I was outside of his apartment sometimes and he didn’t know. I won’t say anything more about it. I’ll put it this way, he didn’t know.


Washington's seemingly contradictory story is interesting. He's no fan of other actors messing with him but seems to have indulged in a little bit of his own method acting antics while on the set of The Little Things. Given the antagonistic relationship between their characters in the movie, there's no surprise that Washington would have wanted to keep things between them frosty. Still, it is also surprising that he went as far as hiding out outside Leto's apartment.

Hopefully, that antagonism comes across on screen. The Little Things is the type of movie that isn't made in Hollywood anymore, being similar in tone and subject to the kind of neo-noir thrillers made in the 1990s, perhaps a consequence of it being written during that era. But with such a strong cast and a trailer that promises a fascinating slow-burn thriller, the signs are good that this could be an early hit for Warner Bros., even if only on HBO Max, in 2021.

The Little Things (2021)
Release Date: Jan 29, 2021